Through the Eyes of a Hatter
by Kat A. Klysmic
Summary: Events as they were seen through Hatter's eyes, and how an oyster came to turn his, and everyone else's, world upside down. rated T just in case
1. The Alice

AN: Hello there everyone! I just watched Alice for the first time the other night and I'm totally in love! So here is my bit of fanficcy tribute to this awesome miniseries! Decided to take things from the hatters point of view...so please, read and review! It helps me write!

Also! For a bit of Hatter eyecandy, do please stop by my Deviantart page! My username is hakari-chan. so just do hakari-chan dot deviantart dot com to check out my hatter fanart!

Chapter One:

_The_ Alice

The heady scent of oolong tea filled the air as Hatter leaned into the soft cushions of his high backed, white chair, warmth emanating from the glass teacup cradled in his hands, the saucer abandoned on the desk beside him. The strong, dark smell overrode the thick and sickening scent of greed and desire that seemed to permeate the air in the shop outside the door of his little office. As he sipped the dark amber liquid, the man could feel his headache subside ever so slightly. Tea-heads, his pathetic little customers, always gave him such headaches with all their clamoring for their next fix, eager to ride that wave of powerful human emotion, to drown themselves in it...

Hatter's eyes drifted to the shelves behind his desk, glancing at the select few bottles of Tea he kept there, some of the more expensive products that he didn't trust to have out of his sight. Disgusting as he felt his buyers were, money was money, and Hatter had always been raised to keep a close eye on his merchandise. He didn't use very often, not anymore. A casual dash of self-confidence here, a little cleverness there, and the occasional drop of lust for...well, special occasions. It had been awhile since he had used any of them though. Even just looking at them there, perched so smugly on the shelf, just watching him, waiting for him to break down like he used to, like his buyers did every day, like _everyone_ did these days...it rankled him.

He was considering taking the bottles down and sticking them in one of his desk drawers so they would stop pestering him when a knock drew him from his reverie.

"Enter." he called without turning in his chair. He didn't need to, he recognized the knock.

"Excuse me, Sir, but a mister..._Rat_ is here to see you." Said the guard that had just stepped into his office, distaste evident in his voice. Hatter had a few guards that he kept on staff just in case things got out of hand with his customers, something that was obnoxiously regular in occurrence.

Hatter groaned inwardly at the news. He _hated_ Rat. The man reeked. He'd probably never had a bath in his life and simply being within twenty feet of the man could put one off their lunch. He sighed resignedly, before waving a casual hand at his guard, still not turning as he spoke "Go ahead and send him in."

"Yes sir."

"And go ahead and pull out some of those air freshener...things... we got." Hatter added.

"Yes sir." he could practically hear the amusement in the guard's voice.

The door closed with a quiet snap and Hatter leaned forward in his chair, placing his tea cup back on its saucer on his desk, lamenting that it would probably be cold by the time he was done with the sewer dweller. Oh well, there was nothing for it. The man was obnoxious, a moron, and stank to high heaven, but every once in awhile, he _did_ bring something of interest to Hatter's attention. It was the only reason he occasionally tolerated the man's presence there in his office. There was always that small chance that it would pay off.

A moment later, there was a knock, and the door opened before he could answer. The smells from the shop mixed with the unsavory odor of Rat himself made Hatter gag silently, and he remained with his back to the door and his unwanted guest to hide the face he made as his senses were overwhelmed.

"Well?" he managed to say, finally. If his voice croaked a little, Rat didn't seem to notice, instead he began to speak, and quite eagerly at that.

"Mr. Hatter sir! I found something I did! An Oyster!"

Hatter rolled his eyes, already annoyed. It was going to be one of _those_ kinds of visits, was it?

"Mr. Rat," Hatter managed a cool, bordering on cold voice "how many times do I have to tell you that I am _not interested_ in any of the dead bodies, oyster or not, that you fish out of that pathetic, sewage infested excuse for a canal?"

"Not a corpse, sir! Alive she is! Say she's lookin for someone." Rat all but chirped merrily, obviously very sure of his reward today for this particular find.

Pausing, Hatter looked briefly back over his shoulder to take in the mans face. No, he wasn't lying. "Alive, you say?" he murmured, turning away again, calculating. Was it worth it, taking in an oyster? Bringing her down to Dodo? He supposed he could always fit her in with his next shipment of supplies to the resistance...

"And not just any oyster!"

"What?" Hatter asked, mildly annoyed at being interrupted in his thinking.

"Not just any oyster, I says! Is Alice. _The _Alice."

Hatter went very still for a moment, having to bite down on his tongue to keep himself from parroting the mans words back at him again. Terrible habit that.

"And how," he began as he scrambled mentally to pull himself back together "would you know that?"

"Told me herself." Rat said with a nod.

"Oh really." He asked, disbelievingly, picking up his tea and sipping it, grimacing slightly as the cold beverage slid unpleasantly over his tongue and down his throat. "She specifically said she was _the _Alice. The Alice of Legend?"

"Well...not in so many words, no..." Rat answered, suddenly sounding unsure of himself, much to Hatter's relief. The last thing he needed was the world as he knew it to come tumbling down around his ears, and just when he had gotten comfortable too. No, there was no way it could be the same Alice, Oysters didn't live that long, after all. Still...perhaps he could see her anyways, she could be of use to the resistance, or he could play dirty and sell her back to the Suits for a hefty reward.

That thought left a bitter taste in his mouth that was worse than cold black tea. No, he wouldn't do that. Dirty double player that he was, with sticky fingers in more than one pie, not even he would do that. The resistance it was then. He was silent a long moment before speaking again. "Go ahead and show her in, then. I doubt she's this Alice everyone always makes such a big deal of in the old stories, but she could still be useful..."

Rat made an incomprehensible sound of happiness that his offer had been, more or less, accepted, and dashed back out the door to find his little prize.

_'Still...'_ Hatter wondered, _'where did he come up with all this Alice nonsense?' _Rat wasn't exactly a creative guy, and absolute rubbish at lying. Well, rubbish at lying to Hatter, who was something of an accomplished liar himself.

Hatter was still musing over this when the door opened again, and he _felt_ her enter the room. It had been a long time since he'd been in the presence of a real, live oyster. He'd forgotten how very...alive they felt. He could practically feel the emotions rolling off of her person. Curiosity, self-assurance, determination, and just a dash of fear, and a sense of being very lost.

"Cup of tea?" he asked, before the oyster could speak, before he'd even turned to look at her. The words just seemed to tumble over his lips before he even realized what it was he had said.

"No thank you. Who are you?" she asked, and something in Hatter's gut rolled. He could feel her surprise and a flash of confusion at his question, before determination swelled to the forefront once more.

He couldn't take the suspense anymore, and he rotated his chair around so that he could look at her. His eyes flashed instinctively to her face, and then away again.

"A friend." He said, before his eyes returned to her face once more "I hope." Again, the words came unbidden to his tongue and leaped like a kamikaze over his lips and into the conversation. "I run the Tea shop."

AN: Well guys, hope you all enjoyed! Please leave some feedback, as it helps keep me writing! If I don't get any reviews then I'll just assume no one wants to read, and that would be sad! So review, review like the wind!!!

Also! For a bit of Hatter eyecandy, do please stop by my Deviantart page! My username is hakari-chan. so just do hakari-chan dot deviantart dot com to check out my hatter fanart!


	2. Emotional Soup

**AN: Hey everyone!** Another chapter here! I'm not sure exactly how long this is going to be, because I haven't decided If I'm going to go scene by scene (the ones with hatter anyways), or just do the more important ones. I do know, though, that I'll be throwing in a few original ones that weren't shown in the show because obviously we're all curious about what Hatter was doing when he was separated from Alice, hehehe ;D **Also,** I did this last time too, though I forgot to mention it. When I write Tea (with a capital 'T'), it's referring to the drug, lower case just means regular tea.

Anyways, do please enjoy! And if you enjoyed, please PLEASE review! They keep me inspired to write, so if you want more chapters, then I need reviews! Lol

Also x2! For a bit of Hatter eye-candy, do please stop by my Deviantart page! My username is hakari-chan. so just do hakari-chan dot deviantart dot com to check out my hatter fanart!

Chapter Two:

Emotional Soup

His skin felt like it was trying to crawl away as her emotions continued to wash over him, and Hatter forced himself to his feet to give himself something to do, pausing just long enough before he did so to see Ratty pull the dirty looking bandanna from the girl's arm, revealing the telltale green tattoo that marked her for what she was. He frowned slightly, brow furrowing as he walked along his desk, turning his back to her, trying to block her out, regain his cool once more.

Taking a breath helped, and he was able to speak, though he kept his back to her for a moment longer, banishing the strange sensations that washed over him, making him feel like his gut was doing its best to impersonate a Gordian knot. "How did you escape from the Scarab?" he asked. There, that was a perfectly logical question, his voice was normal and everything. His control slinked back from wherever it had disappeared to for a quick breather when the oyster had walked in.

"The beetle thing?" she asked, as he turned to look at her, making a noise in the affirmative. It was a bit of a puzzle to him. Not many oysters managed to escape the white rabbit, after all. Not alive anyways.

"I used my hairpin-" she began, moving her hand restlessly as she explained, her eyes lowered, shoulders stiff.

"And fell." he completed, a bit of admiration trickling into his voice. Impressive.

She chuckled a little humorlessly, making him raise an eyebrow as Alice looked up at him, now. Her eyes were blue, he noticed for the first time. "As you can see, I am _completely_ drenched."

Hatter could only nod. He had, in fact, noticed that she was quite wet, though it really only just registered as his eyes went from her blue ones, and trailed down her body to her brown boots, dripping all over his grass. Long black hair, blue eyes, a, to be quite honest with himself, fantastic body...how could a guy _not_ notice the way that little blue dress clung to her? Something rolled over in the pit of his stomach again as he smirked, ever so slightly, wondering if he wasn't being too obvious. She didn't seem to notice though, and so he let himself take in a good eyeful before her voice suddenly brought him back to the conversation at hand. Shame, that.

"Look," she said "this place...where...what is it?" the woman looked humorlessly disbelieving of her own question even as she asked it, making those nervous motions with her hands again, emotions a roiling mess, reflecting that she clearly just didn't know _what_ to think about this place.

She was cute when she was confused, Hatter mused. The he realized that she was expecting an answer from him. Right. "Oh. Wonderland." he said with a slight smile, raising his hands to indicate their general surroundings.

Disbelief washed across her features, and he couldn't blame her.

"That's a story in a kids book." she said, and he rather thought that she thought him quite mad for even saying it. He wouldn't be surprised if she was right. Most people here were a little...odd. Had to be, to survive in a place like this.

"Does this look like a kids book to you?" He asked her, completely serious now.

She seemed to consider a moment, sighing in resignation as she answered him "No."

"It's changed a lot since then." he explained, matter-of-factly as he pushed himself off of his desk and approached her, grabbing the magnifying glass off of it as he did so. The emotions rolling off of her (confusion, worry, annoyance, grim determination) only got more intense as he approached, but he didn't let it show, pushed it all to the back of his mind and let the words roll over his tongue, explaining in his charming way that things had changed. He was quite good at being charming when the mood took him.

"So you're saying that it was real?" she asked, sounding less confused now, but not really feeling it. The idea of their existence still quite boggled her, apparently.

"You oysters don't know how to find us, so-" he raised his magnifying glass and grabbed her wrist gently, raising it so he could get a better look at the mark on her forearm "excuse me," he said as he did so. "You tell yourselves that we don't exist, and quite frankly..." he flicked his eyes over to Ratty, who was still standing possessively next to his prize, still reeking, before looking back at her again. He was going to have to do something about Rat soon "we like to keep it that way."

The skin of her wrist was smooth and milk pale in the palm of his hand, and he tried not to relish the feel of it's softness too much. Such a shame the green tattoo marred it so.

"Why am I an oyster?" she asked, sounding annoyed as she snatched her wrist from him, brow furrowed. Right, no touchy then. Apparently she didn't like that. Then again, it might have just been the 'oyster' bit that annoyed her. "This?" she asked, briefly touching the skin of her right arm, though her eyes still focused on him. He found that intense blue gaze a little unnerving in that moment, so he looked down at her arm instead, as he answered.

"That's not gonna come off." By the time he looked back, she had already turned her gaze from him to look at her arm herself, rubbing at it in apparent annoyance and severe distaste.

"Sorry!" he chimed, grinning a bit, he couldn't help himself. The smile fell from his face, though, when she looked at him again, demanding answers with her eyes, and he found himself almost compelled to explain.

"Only people from your world turn green when burned by the light. It's the suits way of branding their catch." he explained, turning away hurriedly from her once more so that he didn't have to feel the worry that was welling up in her again even now. Distance, he needed distance, if only for a moment. Being near her, with all those emotions was like sticking your head in a river; fast moving, powerful, and you had to come up for air sometime, even if just for a moment. He used his magnifying glass as an excuse, walking back to put it on his desk. He hadn't really needed it anyways, not to see her tattoo. It was obviously real. The magnifying glass was just a prop, something to occupy himself with, something to give him a reason to move away from her and take a breath before diving back into that river again.

"And they call you _oysters_" he continued on without missing a beat, placing the magnifying glass gently on the glass surface of his work desk " because of the shiny little pearls that you all carry inside."

He turned back now, approaching more slowly this time, watching her with his observant brown eyes, briefly noting the way that Rat watched her too. He wondered if the emotions emanating from the woman were affecting the canal dweller as much as they were him. If they were, he seemed to be enjoying it a lot more.

"What do you mean, pearls?" she asked, shifting position uncomfortably under his gaze, letting her arms drop to her side once more as she watched him approached. She was wary of him, and this both pleased, and annoyed the man, though he wasn't sure precisely why. It was hard enough identifying her much more powerful feelings, let alone his weaker ones. The emotions of Wonderlanders were always so twisted and convoluted anyways. Hence, why Tea was so popular. To feel something so strongly was an overwhelming sensation to them, and Hatter couldn't help but wonder just how Otherworlders managed day to day with so much emotion pent up inside of them.

Before he was able to explain his statement about pearls to her, though (and he wasn't entirely sure he should, anyways), Rat interrupted.

"A-an she's Alice! Tell him who you are." the man said, looking beseechingly at the girl, and Hatter felt a rather definite tinge of annoyance at that. He wondered if it was his feeling, though, or the Alice's.

"Wow. Really?" He let the sarcasm seep into his tone. They were going through this again, were they? Idiotic little _rat_. Still...might as well see how she reacted...could be fun, he mused.

He circled around her, taking her in as he did so, though he tried not to be obvious, because those blue eyes followed him as he moved. Her long black hair was beginning to dry now, though it still occasionally dripped, watering the grass beneath their feet. It was starting to curl slightly in the warm air of his office, and he wondered what it felt like. Would it be soft, like silk beneath his calloused, tan fingers? Or would it be a little more coarse, but still thick and wonderful to wrap his hands in, to twine around his fingers...Hatter wondered briefly if someone hadn't slipped a little Tea into his tea to have him thinking like that, and so he switched back into sarcasm mode before he did anything foolish.

"OooOOooo!" he said, and laughed, coming to Rat's side, doing his best to ignore the smell. The filthy man laughed as well, though Hatter rather thought that he didn't get the joke. The smile fell from Hatter's face, disgusted with the man, and turned his attention back to the girl at hand, slapping the other man on the shoulder as he did so.

"Ratty here, thinks you're Alice." He said, bemused. "Of Legend." he added, just to be clear. He was beginning to regret slapping Ratty on the back though, the coat had a very unpleasant oily sort of feel to it...Ick.

The girl looked to the side, apparently still confused. "Who?" she asked, looking at the both of them in turn for answers.

Hatter looked back at Ratty, appeased that he had been right, and that the man was the simple idiot he had always thought him to be. Point for Hatter.

"The last, um-" he pulled away from the canal man, looking down at his hand as he did so, feeling the oiliness there and making a face of disgust. Dammit all. "The last time a girl called Alice came here, from your world..." he was circling again, and he found he rather enjoyed it, enjoyed the way her eyes followed him as he did so. He couldn't help but notice the slight flowery scent that her hair held, despite her earlier dunking in the less than clean waters of the canal, and despite the reek of the man beside them. It was very hard not to lean in even closer and take a deeper breath of it... Right, time to be moving on then. He came face to face with her, meeting those intense eyes of hers. "she brought down the _whole house_ of cards. Oh yeah." he explained, nodding his head slightly just press the immensity of this home on the woman before him. The woman who was _not_ Alice of Legend. "Made quite an impression."

He was quiet a moment, watching her as she stood there, silent before him, silent under the press of his words. "Although that was one hundred and fifty years ago," he said, rounding on Rat now "it can't be the same girl, oysters don't even live that long." he cast a glance back to her and that pert little form of hers, the smooth, milk pale skin, those rather nice legs in those wonderfully tight little leggings...nope, definitely not one hundred and fifty years old.

"I still want a good price." Rat said, to his annoyance, but not his surprise.

"Wait a minute, I am _not_ for sale." the girl chimed in now, obviously affronted by the idea. Apparently, the slave market wasn't very popular in the Otherworld these days.

Hatter held a finger up for silence, not looking at her as he stared the other man down. For once, though, Rat seemed to be showing some spine, and Hatter finally gave in. Ah well, not like it would cost him that much anyways. It would take more effort just to argue with the grasping man.

He turned and walked towards his desk, giving the woman an amused roll of his eyes, and much to his relief, she remained quiet for the time being, although her anger washed over him as he passed her, and so he hurried on back to the wall behind his desk, and the shelf of Tea there.

"Not on the grass." he said sharply, to keep Rat from following him. He didn't want those filthy, muck covered boots tracking all over the tender green shoots on his office floor. It took a lot of work to keep this stuff growing and he wasn't about to let just _anyone_ walk on it.

"Right..." he sighed as he came to the shelf that had been mocking him so earlier while he had been drinking his tea. The stuff here was all a little valuable...to valuable for Rat, even in exchange for a lovely little piece of work as the oyster he had brought in. He grabbed up a bottle of blue Tea, the emotion of surprise, and turned back towards them again. _'Hmm...on the other hand, maybe not'._ Rat was a twitchy man as it was, he hardly needed to feel surprised...no, something else after all. He placed the blue liquid back on the shelf, and that's when he spotted it. A pink liquid, excitement, in a bottle shoved off in the corner behind a bottle of Optimism. He grinned and grabbed it. Perfect.

"Here we are." Hatter said with a slight smile as he moved from behind his desk. "Mmm." he walked out, holding it before him like a showman showing off a prized product for a crowd to see. He waggled his eyebrows slightly, temptingly, and he saw Rat look at him expectantly, eagerly.

"Pink Nectar." he said, dropping the showman pose but not the salesman's charming voice. "Filled with the thrill of _human excitement_." Out of the corner of his eye he could see the confused look cross over the girl's face, but he payed it no mind. "Fifty oysters were drained of every last _drop_ of hullabaloo, so that you, Ratty, can taste what it feels like to win. Just once." He wove his spell of words well, and even though it was a common enough Tea (excitement is easy to harvest in a casino, after all), Rat was all but snatching it from his hands by the time he was done speaking.

"Warning," he pulled the bottle back, smiling slightly until he continued, serious now. "Don't take it on an empty stomach, and only one tiny drop at a time, otherwise the experience might _burst_ your shriveled up little heart. Got it?"

"Got it." the man replied eagerly.

"Good. Go." Hatter said, offering the bottle, which was quickly snatched from his hand by Rat, who hurried out of the room in his odd, shuffling gate, clearly excited already.

Hatter watched him go, feeling a mixture of relief, and disgust. The disgust took the forefront as he smelled his hand "He really smells." was all he could manage, face contorted slightly in revulsion.

"Oysters were drained?" Alice finally spoke, and he couldn't quite interpret the feelings coming from her, nor her face. Disbelief? Confusion? Anger? He wasn't quite sure, but he wasn't sure he wanted to explain either. "What do you mean, drained?"

He looked at her a moment, teetering on the verge of telling her, but then decided against it. He wasn't sure his stomach took take any more of her overwhelming emotions. He wasn't about to make them stronger by explaining just what it was they did in the casino, or what his Tea was.

Instead, he turned away from her again, feeling slightly ill. So many negative feelings from her now. Curious and confused hadn't been so bad, but these new ones made his stomach churn uncomfortably, and so he retreated once more.

"So, Ratty tells me you're looking for someone."* He said to fill the silence, to cover up his reluctance to .

He could practically hear her trip over his sudden subject change, but she went with it, much to his relief. "His name is Jack Chase." She said as he took up his cup and saucer once more and sat himself on the chair by his work desk. He didn't really want any of his now ice cold tea, but it gave him something to do with his hands. "He was taken by a man with a white rabbit on his lapel.

Her words made him pause as he crossed one leg over the other, a sense of foreboding bubbling up within him, and again, he was left to wonder whether it was his or hers. "I see." was all he managed. For extra effect, he added in a 'hnn'. He took a sip of his tea, again, much to his regret. Even the bitter tea, though, was better than the nauseating waves of anxiety that she was letting off.

He had to say something, anything was better than sitting in that oppressive silence with all those...feelings...bouncing around the room. "The white rabbit," he began, setting his teacup back on it's saucer in his hand " is an organization controlled by the suits. They travel back and forth through the looking glass and ...vanish people from your world to ours"

"Why?" she asked quietly, and he was relieved as the anxiety was replaced by curiosity again, though still with that tinge of worry. Still, it was an improvement.

"To use. In the casino" He said, not really considering his answer before it escaped him just as he raised his half empty tea cup to his lips.

"Use...?" the woman sounded calm, but it hid a flash of disturbed worry and even fear. The suddenness of it took Hatter by surprise, causing him to spit out his tea. White Queen curse it all, he had to keep his guard up! His lips were being unusually free today, much to his annoyance. He did so wish they would stop it, they were making things very difficult for him.

"Did I say...used?" He asked hurriedly, trying to cover his blunder, quickly setting down his teacup on the desk once more and turning to look at her, all but jumping to his feet in his hurry. Her face was calm, but as he met those eyes, he could practically _see_ all of the emotions rolling around inside of her. "I...slip of the tongue. They're fine." he rushed to assure her, flashing her a grin that he hoped didn't look as queasy as he felt. "You know...they keep them alive...aaaaand...moderately happy." Yeah, smooth.

He felt a new emotion build within her as she closed her eyes and sighed before speaking. Resignation, perhaps?

"How do I get to this Casino?" she asked.

Hatter nearly laughed at her. Get to the Casino? As if. Not even _he_ had contacts in the Casino. Time to stamp this idea out before it could get out of hand.

"That's the thing!" he said with a grin, though at the look on her face, it dropped off as he continued. "You don't. Way too dangerous."

Her face hardened then, in a way that he didn't quite like. Looking at her, he knew it wouldn't do any good to argue, to tell her not to. No, no...that would only make her _angry_, he could tell. Angry wasn't really an emotion he particularly wanted to have her experience around him. He wasn't sure _what_ he would do. So far, he'd been able to keep himself straight, keep himself from acting on the emotions he was picking up from her, but...Anger was a notoriously powerful feeling, one that the Queen strictly forbade being produced from Oysters. They had, one time, and the Wonderland test subjects...well...it had all ended with a few body bags and some poor sap left to mop up the blood. No, anger was not something the queen needed to have her subjects feeling. Especially not against her.

So, to keep her from being angry around him, he wouldn't promise her anything about this boy of hers. No, he'd let someone else deal with that. Dodo could handle himself, he was quite certain.

"But," he said, speaking once more, and her face softened slightly as he walked towards her again, pulling on his charming mask once more. He was a man that could get just about anyone to do what he asked, this oyster would be no different. A few grins, a few empty promises, and Dodo would owe him. Again. "I know some people who..._know_ some...well, _other _people," He flashed her a smile "if you know what I mean."

She watched him warily as he moved in closer, but didn't back away. He rather liked that, he found. Most oysters were not so confident as this one. She was...special. The tantalizing scent of her hair wafted up at him again as she shifted slightly under his gaze. It wasn't a shift resulting from being uncomfortable though, more like...she was getting ready. He looked at her from under his long lashes, brown eyes drinking her in. She really was lovely. That long dark hair that contrasted so starkly with her pale skin, not to mention those intense blue eyes that could drown a man with their depth. Her nose was a little large for classic beauty, but it added character, made her different from all those paper cut out girls that were normally thrown into the classic group of 'pretty', or 'beautiful'. No, this woman, this..._Alice,_ was something more.

"It's one of the privileges of..." he leaned in closer, and she leaned away, though she still met his eyes challengingly "owning a tea shop" he finished, letting his 'p' pop, making her jump slightly in surprise. Or maybe she was jumping at him to try and scare him off. Whatever. "Lighten up." he said and moved away again, holding up a finger to tell her to wait as he jogged across the room and opened up the small dresser he kept there with a few changes of clothes. Just in case. He could feel her relief swell slightly at his back as he moved away from her, making him smile slightly in bemusement.

He swung open the glass doors of the dresser with a "Ta-daaaaah!", and examined the coats there-in for a moment before pulling out one of his older purple ones. It was quite nice, but not one he would mind parting with.

"You," he began, as he walked back towards her again "should wear this. It'll cover the glow, and stop you from catching a cold."

Hatter stood before her, coat in hand, ready to help her into it, but she paused, unsure of herself, much to his confusion. Hadn't she come here for his help? He raised an eyebrow slightly, waiting for her to make up her mind.

"I...have a little money." she finally said, making Hatter laugh. He knew of Otherworld money. Such a funny...quaint sort of way of doing business. "But I understand you don't use that here."

"Pieces of paper!" he said, amused. "Pointless."

He circled around her once more, this time to place the jacket on her shoulders, but she interrupted him. "Then why would you help me?"

Hatter paused, debating on how to answer. He felt his voice go a little rough as he spoke, leaning in as he did so "Do I need a reason to help a pretty girl in a..._very _wet dress?"

She whirled around to face him, eyes hard, and he was momentarily taken aback by the strength of the emotions that showed in there, flowed out to touch him, so much so that he took a step back. Annoyance, surprise, distrust, a dash of anger, and...disgust? Was that _disgust_ he was feeling from her?!

In any other girl that he had said that too, only to have them look at him like that, he probably just would have been turned on...but she wasn't just any other woman. He could literally _feel_ what she felt when they were this close, and she was definitely disgusted at his words. How rude! He was a successful, and dare he say, very attractive man, who was she to act disgusted with him! And after he had offered her a coat and his help too!

"Oh." He managed finally, fighting away his outrage, though not doing a very good job. "I see. You don't trust me." He was surprised at the strength of his emotions, and they were, definitely, his emotions. "Fine." he said, vehemently, throwing down the jacket onto one of his pristine white sofas before turning back to her, eyes narrowed slightly.

"I am genuinely hurt." He said, pointing at himself to accentuate the point. "Do you know why they call me hatter?" He asked. No, of course she wouldn't but that didn't matter now. He was getting too worked up.

She looked up at him, eyes flickering over his form, feeling a bit unsure of herself, a little nervous even. Nervous of _him. _Well, good. "Because you wear a hat?" she answered.

Hatter paused, annoyed. Well he did, but that was just far to obvious now wasn't it? "No." he said, circling around her once more "Because I'm always there when they _pass_ the hat. So to speak." He moved away again, pointing at her as he said "Philanthropy. Generosity. I mean you...you can call it what you will, it's who I _am_. And right now, looking at you there," he watched her closely as he spoke, saw just a bit of sorrow in her eyes, tempering the annoyance, and he continued, acting hurt, but no longer feeling it. He'd already won. "there's nothing I want more than to help you find..." Oh crap. What was his name again? Mayday, mayday!

"Jack." She supplied hurriedly.

"Jack! And return you both to your charming world of children's stories." He propped his arms up on the back of his white chair, watching her, adding just the right amount of hurt sadness to his earnest face to pull her in, hook line and sinker.

After a moment, she spoke again. "I don't believe you." as she gave him the quick up and down with her eyes. Damn, no dice. Perhaps he'd over done it just a bit...

Time to change tack then. "I know what you're thinking." Hatter said, moving hurriedly out from behind his chair "If I'm the frying pan, then that out there" he gestured towards the window "is the fire." He moved in close once more. "I'll be square with you. I know people who like to help your kind." _That_ got her attention. "And if once in awhile I scratch their back..." he spread his arms, looking at her earnestly, waiting for her to fill in the blank.

"They'll scratch yours." she supplied after a moment of studying him. He couldn't track her feelings now, he felt as though he were in unfamiliar territory. They specialized, after all, in happy emotions, all these other ones she was experiencing were...strange, to him. Too powerful for him to recognize or compare to what he felt most of the time.

"Precisely!" he said with a grin. "A lot of scratching."

Silence, again, as she looked at him with that discerning gaze that he was rapidly coming to believe was a lot more keen than he had originally thought it was. Finally, she turned away and collected the coat he had so carelessly thrown down, and slipped into it. As he back was to him, he smiled, ever so slightly, and moved the opposite direction, to his back door, the small entrance that served as his bolt hole whenever he needed one.

"Do try to keep up." He said as he pulled it open.

(*) "Ratty tells me you're looking for someone." : Lol, so I didn't realize til writing this chapter that I actually forgot to add that bit to their conversation in the previous one, so I went back and made a slight adjustment so that it at least came up in the convo between Rat and Hatter before Alice shows up. Just as an FYI, lol.

**AN: **If you enjoyed, please PLEASE review! They keep me inspired to write, so if you want more chapters, then I need reviews! Lol

Also! For a bit of Hatter eye-candy, do please stop by my Deviantart page! My username is hakari-chan. so just do hakari-chan dot deviantart dot com to check out my hatter fanart!


	3. The Shot Heard Around Wonderland

**AN:** Hey everyone! Another chapter here, I hope you enjoy! And if you did, please do read a review, remember, I don't get reviews, I don't write! If you don't leave reviews, how am I supposed to know anyone is even reading this?

Speaking of reviews, I was linking my fanfic on my DA, so when I went to get the link off I saw that I had twice as many reviews as I though I did. Apparently my email hasn't been letting me know when I get reviews every time o.O So thanks so much to everyone who has been reviewing! I really appreciate it, even if I don't get a chance to reply to every comment! I figure you guys want another chapter more than you want a response to your comment XD

**I'd just like to make a note**, briefly, that I do know that most of the time, there is no way that there is enough time for Hatter to be thinking this much, but I feel that if I moved things along at the same speed as the show, then I would pretty much just be writing the script for you, with little else extra or original to make it new and interesting for you. So please bear with me on that, I feel like it gives a little more insight to how I interpret his character if I add a little extra, hehehe. I do try and keep it at least somewhat realistic though.

For more tasty Hatter x Alice fanart, check out my DA which is hakari-chan dot deviantart dot com!

Chapter Three:

The shot heard around Wonderland

Hatter stepped out the door and onto the landing, holding the door open for Alice as she followed him through. He walked across the roof and right up to the edge, gesturing to the ladder that ran down the side of the building until it came to a ledge a story below them.

"Ladies first then." He said, flashing the woman a grin as she approached.

Alice looked at him, then took one look at the ledge and the ladder attached to it and Hatter suddenly found himself overwhelmed and feeling as though he were about to throw up what little breakfast and tea he had had earlier that morning. He wobbled slightly but soon righted himself, Alice didn't seem to notice. He desperately fought at the overpowering feelings rushing out of her, accosting his mind, weighing heavily on him, clinging to him like stubborn cobwebs. He really had to learn to block her out. He didn't understand what she was feeling, but he sure as hell didn't like it.

"Right. I'll go first then." he said, not having the strength to manage a smile even as she nodded mutely at him, those blue eyes of hers wide.

Hatter tried to hurry down the ladder, but the nausea still stat heavily in his stomach, leaving his limbs feeling weak and leaden. When he finally reached the bottom he stepped away from the ladder to give her room to come down on her own. She was just behind him though, he really _had_ been going slow, and he looked up at her just in time to see her falter on the last rung. He reached out and grabbed her waist instinctively to steady her as she dropped down to the ledge. She looked up at him in surprise, automatically latching on to his shoulders to steady herself further, and Hatter found himself staring down into her wide eyes as she took a breath and thanked him.

He could only nod and turned away, frowning slightly. What was that horrible sense of vertigo he had had up on the roof? Had it not been from her after all? She seemed well enough now, no longer feeling anything powerful enough to overwhelm his senses. In fact, she almost seemed...numb, though there had been a little blip of surprise there when he had grabbed her. Even as he walked away though, he heard her gasp, and the feeling returned full force, nearly making him trip and fall straight over the edge. Hatter turned to look at her, wondering what was wrong this time, and saw her clinging to the ladder, seemingly transfixed by something beyond the ledge at her feet. He sighed and walked back towards her, mentally fighting off the illness she seemed to be inflicting him with. Hatter took a brief glimpse over the edge to see if she was looking at anything interesting, but saw nothing.

"What's the matter?" He asked, perhaps a bit more harshly than he should have, but he was annoyed by this feeling she was forcing on him.

"Got a thing about heights." she answered in a shaky voice as she renewed her grip on the ladder at her back. He raised his eyebrows and took another look over the edge. It was certainly a bit of a drop. "Why couldn't you guys build this city on the ground?" she mused, though she sounded...terrified.

That was it then, this is what sheer, unadulterated terror felt like. Hatter decided he definitely didn't like it. This must be a case of one of those...what were they called...phobes? No, phobias, that was it. She had a fear of heights, he realized, everything clicking into place.

He sighed, suddenly feeling a small wave of guilt well up from under the layer of terror and clung to it like a life raft, focusing on it so that he could shrug off the debilitating fear and operate normally again. As he focused on his own feelings, something he didn't do very often, he realized that he felt guilty for being annoyed with her and her abject terror, though he hadn't realized what it was. She didn't know that he could feel everything she did, didn't _need_ to know that. It wasn't her fault she was afraid of heights.

"Look at me." he said suddenly, bobbing slightly on the balls of his feet, brown eyes focused on her face as her's remained locked on the drop scant inches from her toes. "Alice." He said, trying to get her attention again. Her name all but rolled off his tongue, it was the first time he'd directly called her by it, he realized. Hatter reached out a hand to her, and was gratified when she finally looked at him, chest heaving with her panting breaths. He'd take time to appreciate that later, for now, he waited, hand extended, watching her look at it indecisively, and then back at the edge. There was that distrust again, rearing its ugly little face.

Hatter was almost surprised when she seemed to push it aside and quickly slid her hand into his,as though afraid the ground would fall out from under her at any second if she weren't holding on to something.

"Try not to look down, okay?" he suggested. He had no fear of heights himself, but that certainly seemed like a logical thing to say to someone who _was_ afraid. He locked eyes with her and drew her slowly backwards towards more solid ground, and slowly felt the fear fade, much to his relief, though she was still gasping for breath, trembling from head to toe. Her face, he noticed, was startlingly pale, and the hand she had placed in his was ice cold. Terror, Hatter decided, was definitely _not_ a good feeling.

The road the the library wasn't a very long one, but it seemed to take forever with Alice all but inching along behind him. It didn't really help, he supposed, that path to their destination ran almost completely along narrow, crumbling sidewalks that protruded from the sides of old buildings. Hatter had never really noticed that before. After all, he had grown up in this city. The narrow walks and the long drops were just another part of life that you had to watch out for, but grew used to after so many years. Just like how Otherworlders knew not to step off the sidewalk and into oncoming traffic.

After five minutes with making next to no headway, Hatter stopped and turned to Alice, who was inching along with her back plastered to the wall. She was going to ruin a perfectly good coat at this rate. He walked back towards her with a huff, and she looked up at him, startled when he stopped next to her.

"At this rate, we'll be there by tomorrow morning." he said flatly, crossing his arms.

She narrowed his eyes at him and said "Well I'm _sorry_ I'm afraid of heights."

"Just don't look down." he said again, waving his arm towards the massive gap to his right.

"Then how will I know where I'm stepping?!" she demanded, and he felt a little niggling panic press its way towards him. He tried to ignore it and instead, took her hands in his and faced her so she was more or less straight along the sidewalk.

"Just keep one hand on the wall and keep your eyes forward." He explained, keeping a firm grip on her hand as she tried to pull it away. She ceased, though, and let him place her hand gently on the wall to her right. "There, now lets go." He said, spinning on heel and walking off again.

His back to her once more, Hatter clenched and unclenched his hand in a slightly nervous fashion, though he didn't know why. Her soft, pale skin was still ice cold to the touch, with fear, no doubt. You did have to give her points for fighting on, though. He glanced back over his shoulder and saw that while she was still a little slow, and awkward, as she walked, keeping one hand on the wall at all times, circling around overhanging plants that got in her way, she _had_ definitely picked up the pace.

With Alice's equilibrium at least partially restored, it wasn't long before Hatter reached the row of doors that he had been looking for. He stopped at the second one he came too, and gestured for Alice to stand on the others side of it so she wouldn't have to circle around once it opened. With her curious eyes watching him, her back plastered to the wall, Hatter knocked on the door three times. It wasn't long before the peep hole opened.

"I'm returning a library book." he said after clearing his throat. "It's a work of Edwin and Morcaw."*

"How does the little crocodile improve his shining tail?" was the reply, making Hatter roll his eyes when Alice raised her eyebrows in a silent question.

"He pours water of the Nile on every golden scale." He said hurriedly. Such a pain in the ass. As if the old man didn't recognize him. He huffed as the man closed the peep hole again, and the sound of bolts and locks being undone came through the door. Hatter did his best to ignore Alice's bemused smile, but it was hard. He almost found himself smiling back.

They didn't have to wait long, the door opened with a creak and a hiss and the old man hurried back to his place.

"Come on, be quick." he said, and Hatter ushered Alice into the elevator before him.

"Hello Doc." he said, though he paid little mind to the man, keeping his brown eyes on Alice as she entered the little train car like chamber, smirking a little as she practically fell into the seat behind her when it started moving. Used to it as he was, he reflexively grabbed at the two poles on either side of him to steady himself, even as he caught Alice's surprised glance.

"It's alright." The words seemed to slip out on reflex as he watched her, though they didn't keep her from looking around and gripping the arms of her seat tightly in her hands. Hatter found himself wondering, as they descended further and further into the underground, what she was like when she _wasn't _stressed and worried like she was now. What did she look like when she smiled?

They came to a stop, but Hatter gestured to her "Wait.", and the tram dropped the last foot or so and he smiled briefly at Alice, gesturing for her to step off first, which she seemed more than happy to do. They didn't get far though, and they were both brought up short by the petite older woman pointing a rather large gun at them from the landing. There was another click from behind him, and he felt the barrel of a second gun pressed into his back.

Shit.

Alice raised her hands in the air as they were both prodded off the tram, and he sighed heavily. Just what the hell did Dodo think he was up to, having Doc and his wife tote around guns and wave them at innocent people? Well, mostly innocent on his part.

"Why don't we just put these things away?" He suggested, glad that Alice's emotions weren't out of control so that he could keep his head. He had a feeling he was going to need it if Dodo was pulling this kind of nonsense on him. "Come on, you know me well enough." He said, trying to reassure the two normally non-violent old people. Oddly, Alice just seemed sort of grim, with a slight undercurrent of nervousness as she walked down the wobbly steps and into the hall. He couldn't help but be surprised that she wasn't panicking. Most women in her place would have been.

"We have our orders." Was Doc's gruff reply as he and his wife cornered them on the landing.

"Keep that right hand where we can see it." Doc's wife said, and internally, Hatter couldn't help but feel a little proud that his reputation preceded him.

He decided to downplay it though. "It's just flesh and blood." he said with a long sigh.

"Right." the old woman said, disbelievingly "We've all seen what you can do with that sledgehammer."

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Alice glance at the offending appendage curiously, but he focused on the more important situation at hand for the time being. That being the old people with the guns.

"Did you _like_ the box of comfits I brought you guys last week?" He asked sourly "The cured meats...and the cheese."

"Well, they're all gone." Doc replied, lowering his gun slightly, eyes wide.

Just went to show you, you couldn't trust people as far as you could throw them these days. Ungrateful jerks.

"Well, if you don't treat me with a little respect," he said with a hard smile "you won't get another crumb." After all, it wasn't as though he were under any obligation to help these people. But he did anyways. Hence the name Hatter, he supposed.

That statement certainly got their attention, much to his relief, though he didn't show it.

"I'm sorry, Hatter," the old woman said, sounding distressed as she lowered her gun and clutched it to her chest "everyone's a little jumpy." She turned away and led them down the hall, her husband following.

Hatter let out a quiet sigh of relief and gently placed a hand at the small of Alice's back, guiding her forward. "Everyone's _always_ a little jumpy." He grumbled.

Alice took a few halting steps, and even when she was moving more confidently, Hatter kept his hand on her back a moment longer than was really necessary, watching her carefully as he did so.

She didn't seem to notice, though, and as she dropped her arms to her sides again, her eyes were roving around the vast hall they were walking along the side of. "Where are we?" she asked, curious.

"The Great Library." He answered, lengthening his stride so that he walked along next to her, feet making little noise on the plush red carpet. "Five hundred years of history hidden here." He said with a sad sort of smile. "Art, literature, lore...Rescued when the Queen of Hearts seized power. She'd like nothing more than to see this burnt to nothing."

Hatter remembered the first time he had come to the library, some years ago. He had been a refugee himself before he had set up his Tea shop, and as he walked along the balcony that wrapped around the main gallery, he noticed that not much had changed, even since then. People came and went, towers of books fell over and were rearranged, but the over all state of things remained the same. Too little food, not enough blankets, pathetic, hungry refugees huddled here and there, nursing the sick as best as they could. Watching them always made him feel a little sad, and tired. His work was never done. No matter how much food he managed to get his hands on for them, it was never enough. He made a mental note to try and get more blankets to them as well. It was cold in here, even during the day as they were below ground level and no sunlight could enter. The lamps that hung from the walls did little to heat the place as the cold seeped in through the walls.

"Who are those poor people?"

Alice's quiet voice called Hatter back to the present, and he realized that he had left her behind while he was lost in thought. She stood there, overlooking the gallery, an unidentifiable mix of feelings reaching out and wrapping around him as he rejoined her.

"Refugees." He sighed, coming to lean on the banister at her side. She seemed almost transfixed by the people below them. "Those who don't want to be part of the Queen's world of instant gratification."

She silently moved to his side, leaning over slightly to get a better look, and he was able to get a better feel for her in that moment. Looking at those people made her feel...sad, for the most part, though there were a few other scattered emotions whirling around within her that he could quite pinpoint. Feeling his own little share of sadness was enough for Hatter, so he tried putting up a mental wall between them, trying to keep her feelings out.

"We give them shelter, and try to feed them the best we can, but...it _is_ dangerous. If the Queen found out, they wouldn't stand a chance." he murmured. They stood there for a minute, silence heavy between the two of them as Alice surveyed the scene. Hatter waited for her to speak again, knowing that she would, that she needed to.

"Why would the Queen want to destroy all of this?" she asked in a low voice, eyes still locked on the gloomy scene below them.

Hatter turned to look at her then, taking in her profile, her furrowed brow, and the way her straight black hair fell around her face and then spoke again "Because wisdom is the greatest threat." he answered truthfully. "She controls people with a quick fix."

The woman beside him watched the scene below them a moment longer, and he watched her do so in silence. She closed her eyes after a moment, bowing her head slightly, and Hatter felt as though some great weight were pressing down on him, or rather, on her. It soon dissipated though, and Alice squared her shoulders once more and pushed herself away from the balcony, her grimly determined face carefully pulled back on to cover her sorrow as she moved to catch up with their guides, who waited for them a few yards away. He followed, the both of them walking in silence through the remainder of the library until they finally reached Dodo's office.

Neither of their guides seemed inclined to knock on the small but foreboding door and Hatter smiled in bemusement as Alice rolled her eyes at them and knocked herself. His brown eyes were drawn to the flash of gold on her left hand, and noted a rather old, pricey looking ring sitting on one of her fingers. He raised an eyebrow at this, but said nothing, tucking the information away in the back of his mind as a voice called from behind the doors.

"Enter."

Doc pushed open the door and Hatter stepped in first, Alice close on his heels, and their two guards right behind her. They took up their positions around the room as Hatter and Alice came to stand before a large desk, the branches of the tree that grew up the right hand wall arching over their heads, drawing Alice's curious gaze. Hatter, though, got right down to business. It was hard to see him, but he knew that Dodo was there, lurking in the shadows, and so he spoke first.

"She's looking for her boyfriend." Hatter said without preamble. "A 'Jack Chance'."

"Chase. His name is Jack Chase" Alice corrected, looking from him to the shadows, making him want to roll his eyes, but he resisted the temptation.

"She needs help. I thought of you, Dodo." He said as Dodo stirred within the shadows, coming out into the dim lamp light where they could see him.

"Really?" the large man asked sarcastically. "And why would I want to help your oyster...when you know that bringing her here puts us all at risk?"

"Oh please." Hatter said snidely. "I've spent years smuggling things more dangerous than this down here." he said with a careless look in the woman's direction, and he rather thought he felt a wave of displeasure from her, but he blocked it out, hoping she would just go along with it for now. Dodo always took careful handling.

Dodo smiled depreciatively at Hatter, making him grimace inwardly. Here it came. "You know what rankles most about bloodsucking carpetbaggers like _you, _Hatter?" the large man asked snidely "Your _gall. _While we risk our lives trying to bring freedom to ungrateful _leeches_ like you, you _swan about_, living the good life."

Hatter went stiff at the other mans words, his proverbial hackles rising. "Stop your crowing." he barked "You know I'm on your side." Not that he particularly liked being there. Dodo was an abrasive, bitter man to work with, and the only reason Hatter ever put up with his crap was because he was in charge of the local arm of the resistance. Hatter didn't have the time or the mindset to do the other man's job, and he knew it, but Dodo still rubbed him the wrong way every time they met, despite how much Hatter did for the resistance.

"I'm sure you say that to _all_ your enemies." was the narrow eyed reply.

"I do what's necessary!" Hatter snapped "I kiss what buts need kissing so your machine stays oiled." Bitterness rose at the back of his throat. This was the thanks he got for walking the line every day for the refugees out in the library? Risking his neck bringing them food and supplies? He felt his anger begin to rise as he spoke, but Alice's voice brought him back down to earth before he could do anything stupid.

"If you can't help me, I'll just leave." she said firmly, turning to walk away.

She was brought up short by Dodo's voice though, and turned to look at him, eyes narrowed "Headstrong, isn't she?" he said with a laugh.

"Can you help me get Jack out of the casino?" she pressed, and this time, Hatter actually opened himself up to her emotions. His anger was getting out of control, but her voice was stable and even, though a little intense. He let her cold resolve temper his heated anger.

"I don't see how." Dodo replied.

"The resistance has contacts in the Casino, right?" Hatter asked, under control once more.

"No comment." was the reply, and Hatter almost rolled his eyes at the obnoxious man.

He decided to change tack. "Use them to find her guy. She can pay you." he ignored her confused look and pressed on "But I want my usual cut, up front." Her confusion turned to indignation at his side, and he prayed that she would go along with it. He always needed the money to run his business, and not to mention to supply the resistance. Surely she wouldn't think the ring was worth more than her own freedom?

"Pay me?" Dodo said, coming around his desk slowly. Ha, hook, line, and sinker. "Pay me...with _what_?"

Hatter moved around to Alice's other side, to the hand that bore her ring, and spoke again. "Show him the rock, Alice." he said, keeping an eye on Dodo as he did so.

"_What_?" she asked, tersely, her eyes narrowed.

"The ring, on your finger." She looked from him to Dodo and back again.

"No, that is _off limits_." she hissed, to his surprise.

"It's all you have, Alice!" he whispered back heatedly, meeting her eyes now. Was she stupid? Was the ring really worth more than her life? He could only help her so much, after all.

"No!"

Hatter nearly jumped as Dodo suddenly appeared in front of them, snatching up Alice's hand and looking at the ring himself, clearly not wanting to wait for them to finish their little conversation. The large man went very still for a moment, and Hatter felt a little bud of dread bloom in the pit of his stomach, and he knew something had changed the game completely when Dodo looked up with a strange look in his eye.

"It's not possible." he hissed, eyes burning into Alice's but she did not turn away under his gaze, and Hatter watched as she snatched her hand hurriedly from him.

"Where did you get it?" Dodo demanded.

"It's none of your business, it's not for sale." Alice said flatly, shifting her position so one foot was behind her, facing down the increasingly angry resistance fighter before her.

"WHERE DID YOU GET IT?!" Dodo bellowed, advancing on the girl now, and for all her bravery, even she took a step back in surprise, though did not break eye contact with him, or run.

"W-What is it?" Hatter asked, trying to intervene before things got ugly, disliking the feeling of being left in the dark, though he rather got the feeling that Alice was as well, judging by the alarm and confusion that was leaking off of her.

"Your Oyster is wearing the _Stone of Wonderland_." Dodo said, looking at him briefly, and Hatter felt his heart skip a beat. She was wearing _what?!_

"That's impossible." he said quietly through the fog of shock that had settled over his normally sharp mind. Where had she gotten it? Just who the hell was this girl that she had _the ring_ of all things? He'd thought she was just another Oyster...apparently he had been mistaken.

"I'm never wrong." Dodo insisted, moving forward again, and forcing Alice to retreat, looking bewildered but angry at the way she was being treated.

"Where did you get it, Alice?" Hatter demanded, though not so harshly as Dodo had, his mind still reeling as he looked at her.

"Jack gave it to me!" she insisted, looking at him briefly with pleading eyes, and Hatter felt a brief pang in his heart as he looked on.

"Jack?" Dodo asked.

"Jack Chase! The guy we're looking for!" she shouted, getting angry now, and Hatter used her sudden rise in emotion to pull himself from his stupor as she cast her eyes to him again.

"Well where did he get it?"

"I don't know!" she said, and Hatter believed her, knew that he had to step in before Dodo did something reckless.

"GIVE IT TO ME!" the man roared.

"No!" she shouted back, defiantly, glaring now, eyes hard.

Then the words that Hatter had been dreading.

"Take her out!"

The click of a cocking rifle seemed to echo in his ears and he hurriedly stepped between the old woman who held the gun pointed at the both of them with wavering hands and Alice.

"Are you crazy?!" Alice cried as the gun was pointed directly at her chest.

"Stop, just wait!" Hatter said, holding a finger up to the old woman, heart racing. He'd never stepped between a gun and someone else before, not willingly. Yet here he was at the wrong end of a barrel of a gun held by a woman with a shaky trigger finger.

"You're in way over your head, Hatter." Dodo growled.

"Just give me one second to talk to her, okay?" Hatter insisted, hand still in the air before him, pleading for time, trying desperately to defuse the situation.

"It controls the Looking Glass," Dodo said, pulling out his own gun now, making Hatter and Alice both take a step back. The girl raised her hands, but Hatter didn't bother. He needed to be ready. "You know that."

Hatter's heart pounded in his ears and his breathing came fast and shallow as he turned briefly and realized that Doc too had his gun focused on them. He couldn't protect Alice from all three of them.

"Calm down, put the gun away. I'm sure we can all get what we want here." Hatter said tensely, eyes shifting between the three threats. Dodo was the biggest danger, he decided. Doc and his wife wouldn't fire readily.

"Look, no one is getting this ring." Alice interjected, making Hatter look back at her with a flash of annoyance. Was she _trying_ to get them killed?!

Dodo advanced on them again, voice low and intense "We've been waiting for a break like this for years, now it falls into our laps..."

Hatter placed himself between Dodo and Alice, one arm out protectively, eyes narrowed as he spoke, forgetting the old people for the time being "Stop waving that thing around, you're scaring everyone." Hatter insisted, briefly catching a glimpse of Alice's wary, fearful face as she locked eyes with Dodo.

"If we can return the Oysters, back to their world, maybe we can save _ours_."

Why couldn't the idiot man see that they could all just put the damned guns away and work together on this?! Alice may want to keep the ring, but he was sure that if they could just _explain_, she would help them if they helped her.

From the look on Dodo's face though, that wasn't going to happen any time soon.

"Put the gun down!" Hatter repeated.

"Think about it," Dodo insisted, and Hatter definitely did not like that manic gleam in the other man's eye "the Queen reduced to mopping floors. It'll be just like the old days." Hatter glimpsed back at Alice again, making sure she was still behind him "Justice, reason, and the rule of law!"

Dodo cocked the gun and Hatter's heart nearly stopped as he reflexively grabbed the barrel of the gun "STOP THIS!" he shouted just before he was shot in the chest and blown backwards into a stack of books. As he lay there, stunned, buried beneath the heavy tomes, he thought he heard someone scream.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

(*)"It's a work of Edwin and Morcaw." - yeah, I don't know _what_ exactly he said, so I just kinda guessed XD

AN: well there you have it folks! Hope you enjoyed! I know we've all seen this and know what happens, but I thought I'd leave it at a cliff hanger-ish spot anyways XD I'm holding the next chapter ransom so make sure you review, or I'm not posting! MUAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

er...anyways...I was going to have Hatter wonder what the hell possessed him to step between a gun and Alice just to protect her, but I figured that things were moving very fast and no doubt he was more focused on all the guns being waved angrily about to wonder things like that. Don't worry though, it'll occur to him later though, when they're no longer being shot at XD

For more tasty Hatter x Alice fanart, check out my DA which is hakari-chan dot deviantart dot com!


	4. Just Breathe

**AN:** yay! And now, on to the violence! Hehehe! Hope you all enjoy, please review if you do, all comments are sacrificed as food to my muse! Lol

So I never really thought about it until I was having to write this chapter blow by blow...but Hatter gets his ass kicked in this scene! And to think Alice actually says "You're not even hurt!". Bull shit! Lol, poor hatter, so not appreciated XD

Also, surprise surprise, we hear directly from Alice this chapter! It won't happen often, but I thought it made for a good bit of fangirl candy XD

**FYI **there is a bit of language in this chapter, but really, its just the f-word like, once, and a few other minor curses. Hopefully I don't offend anyone, but I think that's pretty much what I'd be thinking if I got shot too...lol

Enjoy and review!

Chapter Four:

Just Breathe

Agony rippled through Hatter's body as he lay there, desperately gasping for breath. The body armor he wore at all times was strong, but that didn't mean that being shot point blank by a madman didn't hurt like hell. Quite a lot worse, actually. His eyes refused to focus, voices and the sounds of a struggle ricocheted around his head so loudly he hardly knew which way was up or where all the noise was coming from. He still couldn't breathe. White Queen help him he couldn't fucking breath! The panic was starting to settle in his chest and he wondered if he wasn't going to asphyxiate. Or maybe the bullet had missed the armor all together and had punctured a lung?

The sound of a grunt and something heavy hitting the floor startled Hatter from his panic and he put a hand to his chest. The sound of feet pounding the floor and running out of the room vibrated through the floor and into his spine as he looked at his hand and saw that there was no blood, and felt the slight protrusion of the captured bullet poking through his shirt. Thank the White Queen he wasn't going to die today after all. Well, not yet anyways.

The sound of running footsteps faded and Hatter heard something move down past his feet, breathing heavily. Who was running again? Ouch, that book poking into his back _really_ hur-...Oh shit.

Hatter sat bolt upright, firing his gun in the air as his shattered wits suddenly rushed back into his head and formed the very powerful picture of Alice running for her life while he lay here on the floor hyperventilating. Still breathing heavily, he hoisted himself into a sitting position, glaring furiously at Dodo, casting a surreptitious glance around the room and noting that Alice had indeed bolted from the room and that all three people with guns were, luckily, still in the room with him. Okay, maybe not so luckily, but Dodo seemed to have dropped his gun somewhere so Hatter seized the chance to jump to his feet, hand still pressed to the aching spot on his chest where he'd been shot.

"Leave her alone." Hatter said menacingly, putting his back to the door and backing slowly towards it, eyes locked on Dodo. Even unarmed, he was still the most dangerous person in the room. Rage began to well up from under the pain as the two men faced each other down. Hatter wondered if Alice had managed to escape unharmed. He didn't see any blood anywhere,but that didn't necessarily mean anything. As Dodo's eyes bore into his own, he felt the anger overwhelm his senses, even the pain that sat heavily in his chest. The bastard had ruined everything. They could have had it all! Alice could have gone home, they could have taken the ring, got rid of all the oysters, the queen...he was a _fool_. "Or believe me, the next one will be aimed at your head!" Hatter snarled.

"Look, Hatter," Dodo began, raising his hands but advancing on him, Hatter looked from the resistance fighter to the old woman who had raised her gun again, to the door behind him, calculating his chances of getting out of here without getting shot a second time. "I'll give you three times your price! Five! Ten! You name it."

Hatter saw the lies sitting behind the other man's eyes, and even if hadn't, he still would have said no. There was no way in hell he was working with this psycho again. "Back. Off!" Hatter shouted, cocking his silver pocket handgun.

"If you let her leave with the ring," Dodo hissed as Hatter felt the pain surge in his chest from the sudden movement of thrusting the gun at the man and winced, trying to hide his pain but knowing he wasn't doing a very good job "I'll have every member of the resistance _hunting you down._ You'll be dead before tea time!"

"And that's the thanks I get?" Hatter spat angrily "for keeping you bums fed and watered all these years?" he demanded, moving forward threateningly as he spoke.

That ended up being a mistake. In one quick movement, Dodo had him on the floor with his arm behind his back, twisting it painfully so that not only did Hatter feel as though his arm were breaking, but as if the bullet that had been shot at him were suddenly piercing his chest. He cried out in pain, breathless, head spinning and unable to move, watching fuzzily as Dodo left the room. He pulled his arm around from behind him, cradling it against his chest, coughing, fighting for air once more. Through the fog of pain one thing occurred to Hatter.

_He's going after Alice._

That thought cleared the fog away in a sudden flash of clarity and Hatter struggled to push himself off the ground. Dodo would kill her to get the ring, Hatter knew that now. The man had gone mad at the sight of it and such a small obstacle as an Oyster sure as hell wasn't going to get in his way. Hatter let out a shout of anger and pain as he fought his way to his feet and stumbled out the door. Further down the balcony he could see Dodo running for the elevator, and beyond him, he could see Alice desperately fiddling with the controls. He had to get there first.

Hatter started off at a shambling sort of run but soon picked up the pace, ignoring his throbbing shoulder and burning lungs, pushing himself into a full out run and full body tackled Dodo before he was halfway to Alice. They both let out a grunt as they collided with the floor, and Hatter fought to pin Dodo to the floor.

Alice's desperate voice reached his ears "Hatter!" she cried, making him look up.

"Its the blue button!" he shouted, praying that she would just get herself the hell out of here while she could. He would follow...if he could. Turning his attention back to Dodo, Hatter landed a solid blow across the man's face, though he was soon repaid in kind and thrown off of Dodo, who exhibited surprising strength when he did so, rolling quickly to his feet. Hatter collided with the wall, making him cry out as pain rocketed from his twisted shoulder and echoed through is body, leaving him open to Dodo's next attack as the other man tackled him against the wall.

"Go Alice!" He grunted when he spotted that she was still there from over his attacker's shoulder. What was she waiting for? Had she not heard him the first time? "Hurry up and press the blue button!" His voice came out strained as he mustered to gather the strength to throw Dodo from him, Pressing him backwards against a pillar, trying to pin him. He reared back and let released his famous right straight, aimed directly for Dodo's furious face, but connected only with stone. The pillar sprayed ships of stone and dust as Hatter snarled "Lucky." and tried to prize his fist from the grip of the offending stonework.

Dodo, though, took advantage of his moment of weakness and retaliated by kneeing him first in the stomach, and then in the face, sending Hatter flying backwards onto the floor, mind reeling and unable to think through all the pain. It only got worse when Dodo pinned him down and proceeded to bludgeon his face with one of his massive ham fists. Hatter was rapidly losing consciousness under the barrage, and all he could do was hope that Alice had made it out alright. Not that it would matter much, the resistance was after her now, and she didn't have any contacts, no one to help her... He'd royally screwed up her life in bringing her here.

Suddenly, the rain of blows ceased and Dodo was thrown backwards, and all Hatter could manage to do was roll over and try and crawl away as his sense of self preservation kicked in. Get as far away, as fast as possible from a person who wanted to beat you to death. His hand came in contact with his hat, even if his eyes could make out nothing but a fuzzy brown blur. He instinctively placed it on his head, ears barely catching the grunts and the cries from behind him. After a moment though, Dodo fell into his peripheral vision, and as he tried to get a better look, he felt hands on him and he was pulled to his feet and half carried, half pushed, down the balcony and towards the lift.

"How did you do that?" he demanded as he was hauled away by the petite little woman he'd thought he needed to protect. He clutched his hat to his head and looked at her in disbelief.

She didn't answer him though, and let him fall to the floor of the lift as she hurried towards the drivers seat, looking for the blue button and pressing it without a moment to spare while Hatter tried to haul himself out of her way. He was still gasping for breath and was covered in a sheen of sweat as he wallowed in pain on the floor. Dodo's quickly fading roar of defeat was music to his ears.

"How bad is it?!" Before he even realized what was happening, Alice was straddling him and pulling at his shirt, jostling his wrenched arm as she did so, making him cry out in pain. She froze, and Hatter opened one eye to look up into her shocked face.

"Body armor?" she said almost disbelievingly. A look of relief washed over her face, though it was quickly replaced by indignation. "You're not even wounded!" she said, slapping him on the chest where he'd been shot, making him cry out even louder. Not wounded his ass! He'd been fucking shot, beaten, and tackled by a very fat and angry man and he '_wasn't wounded_'?!

"You lied to me!" she cried out, anger surfacing now as she glared down at him where he lay on the less than clean floor, and he knew she wasn't talking about not being shot. Well, not properly, blood gushingly shot anyways.

"I was trying to help you!" he rasped, catching his breath again now that she was no longer on top of him. He rather wished he'd been more coherent for the occasion, to be quite honest. He wondered if he could convince her to come back down here again...

"By _selling_ my ring?" she demanded furiously as she loomed over him.

Well, so much for hot angry make out session he'd been planning...just where the hell was his mind?! He pulled himself out of the gutter and back into the realm of reality and he looked up at her and said defensively "Well I didn't know it was the Stone of Wonderland did I?!" He winced and let a hand go to his neck as pain suddenly ran through it when he shouted. Dodo had clipped him in the throat when he'd been pinned. He was lucky his windpipe hadn't collapsed.

"Well you could have asked me before bringing me here!" She shouted.

"You wouldn't have come." Hatter said, still massaging his throat as pain lanced through it with every word he was forced to speak.

"You're damn right I wouldn't! He almost _killed _me!"

"Yeah, well, _after_ he shot me!" Hatter snapped, opening his shirt and pointing just to remind her who, of the two of them, had received the beating. It sure as hell hadn't been her!

"Don't!" she commanded, and he fell silent under her harsh gaze as she stomped her foot at him. She took a deep breath, and her next words were calmer, though no less irate "Tell me the truth," she said, breathing heavily as he stared up at her, startled "what is the Stone of Wonderland?"

"It's a big deal." Hatter replied, fighting for air again. The pain in his chest, shoulder, and neck, was not making it easy for him. Having an angry, apparently violent, woman staring down at him wasn't really helping things either. What else did she hide under the cover of that pretty face and lithe body? She'd thrown Dodo around like he was a freaking _rag_ doll. "It was mined by the ancient Knights to power the looking glass. The door that connects our world to yours."

"Knights?" she asked, anger receding a little to be replaced by curiosity.

"They were all wiped out a long time ago by the Queen. She took the Looking Glass and ,of course, the stone." he explained, wincing as he spoke. The vest that had saved his life was only restricting his breathing now. "How did Jack get a hold of it?" he asked as Alice stared at her ring, clearly wondering the exact same thing.

A moment later, the lift shuddered to a stop and the door opened out onto the narrow sidewalk where they had entered. Alice took a deep breath and squared her shoulders as she looked out the door before looking back a Hatter as he remained on the floor, still groaning and panting for breath.

"What's wrong?" she asked, brow furrowed.

"Well," Hatter said, mustering up as much sarcasm as he could under the circumstances "I was just shot point blank, beaten, tackled, and then verbally abused. Forgive me if I don't get up right away." he said bitterly.

Alice blinked at him as though she were only just now realizing this. She sighed then, and he felt a wave of guilt wash over her, and he almost apologized, but she beat him to it. "I'm sorry. I'm not normally this callous." she said quietly as she leaned over and helped him to his feet, much to his surprise. She slung one of his arms across her shoulders and let him lean heavily on her. His limbs felt weak and he sagged heavily against her as she sidled them both out the door and onto the sidewalk.

"Which way?" She asked, looking at him for guidance.

His eyes had been closed slightly as they stood there, feeling as though every bone in his body had been broken. He nodded in the direction opposite that which they had originally come, and she nodded, readjusting her grip on him and then turning them both so that they could move safely down the sidewalk. It was too narrow for them to walk side by side, so she angled them so that they both faced the wall, with her leading the way. Hatter noticed that she didn't seem as affected by the height this time. Maybe it was the fact that she was facing the wall, or perhaps it was just because she had something to focus on besides that horrendously long drop at their backs, namely, carting his carcass away from Dodo's hideaway as fast as she could.

They came to a veritable maze of paths that wove into different buildings, and Alice looked to him again, and he pointed down one of the ones to the left. The way was wider here, and so they were able to shuffle along, side by side. She was surprisingly strong, he mused as they took another turn that he pointed towards. And she smelled so nice too. He just wanted to lean over a little farther and press his lips to her hair. He was sure it was soft...soft and thick, smooth to the touch, just like her skin...

Hatter fought against the ridiculous urge with a quiet groan. He was obviously to exhausted to be thinking straight and his mind had taken to wandering down completely ludicrous paths. Alice was casting him more and more looks, even when they weren't at an intersection where she needed his guidance.

"What?" he asked quietly, not able to manage anything louder when he caught her looking at him again.

She stared at him a long moment before asking "Are you alright? You're really pale and you still haven't caught your breath."

It was true, but he had been hoping she wouldn't notice. "Since you ask, no, I'm not alright."

"Do you want to stop?" she asked, and Hatter relished the complex feeling that sprang from her and wrapped itself around him like a warm, comfy blanket. It wasn't a happy feeling, but then it wasn't a sad one either. What was it...? He turned slightly so he could get a better look at her face, watching her closely as she met his eyes, and then he realized what it was. She was _concerned_ about him. Someone, besides himself, was worried about him? How strange, Hatter mused to himself before he was called back to the present by her voice again "Hatter?"

"What? Oh, no. We're almost there. I'll rest when we get there." he said, and motioned for her to move on again.

She nodded slightly and then pushed on, and in another five minutes or so, they made it to a small clearing between the buildings. It was a little square courtyard of sorts with a tall, spindly tree growing in the middle, reaching for the small square of sunlight far above their heads. There was a sparse scattering of grass and a few flowers as well, which they waded through at Hatter's directing, and he flopped unceremoniously to the ground at the base of the tree as he released Alice's shoulder.

All was silence for a moment and Hatter closed his eyes, breathing shallowly as his chest strained against his armor, but not having the strength to sit up and remove it. He would do it in a minute...he just...needed to rest first. Just as he started to lose consciousness, he heard Alice sit down beside him, and he cracked his eyes open to look at her as she reached over and removed his hat, placing it on the ground beside him. "Thanks." he mumbled.

"You're still not breathing right." she pointed out quietly.

"Yeah. Need to take off...my vest..." his eyes started to drift closed again and he saw alarm flash across her face.

"What? Well you have to get it off!" Alice said, shaking his shoulder.

"Mmmf...innaminute..."

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Alice made a grab for Hatter as he let go and slid off her shoulder, but missed, and he flopped down to the ground unceremoniously. She grimaced, but he didn't seem to notice, in fact, he looked as though he were falling asleep already. She didn't want to stick around, what with that crazy Dodo jerk after them, but if Hatter thought this place was safe enough to pass out in, then she'd just have to trust him.

She wasn't particularly sure she _should_ be trusting Hatter, though. Yet, what choice did she really have? This pale, exhausted looking man was the only person she knew here in this bizarre world. There was no one else she could turn to, and despite the way he'd lied to her, she couldn't hate him. Not when he'd fought to protect her, even going so far as to place himself between her and a loaded gun. He was an odd one, that was for sure. He had questionable morals sometimes, but at the same time, she felt that he was a good person. Well, most of the time.

She groaned and rolled her shoulders, releasing the tension that had built up there while she was half carrying him, and then sat down next to him and waited for him to wake up. He looked so helpless and pale as he lay there, not at all the angry man man shouting down Dodo, the one person between her and a very bloody death.

Alice reached over and gently removed his hat so that he wouldn't crush it in his sleep, revealing a head of wild brown hair underneath. It stuck up every which way without his hat to hold it down, she almost laughed.

"Thanks." Hatter mumbled as she placed the brown hat down on the ground on the other side of him.

She didn't answer though, Alice doubted he'd even notice if she did. She watched him for a moment, noticing with a frown that he was still breathing very shallowly. "You're still not breathing right." she pointed out quietly, hoping he was awake enough to hear her. Apparently he did, because he opened his eyes a little to look up at her as he responded.

"Yeah. Need to take off...my vest..." his eyes started to drift closed again and Alice stared at him in growing alarm. She had forgotten that he was still wearing his bullet proof vest. It must be constricting his breathing, she realized suddenly. That was why he still hadn't been able to catch his breath.

"What? Well you have to get it off!" Alice cried, shaking his shoulder and cursing herself a fool for not noticing, or bothering to ask sooner. What would she do if he died on her? And of asphyxiation of all things?

"Mmmf...innaminute..." was his barely coherent reply. The man simply refused to stir. No doubt he wasn't getting enough oxygen to his brain anymore.

"Hatter!" she shouted, shaking him again, but he couldn't manage to drag himself from his stupor to do anything about it. "Idiot, you're not falling asleep, you're passing out!"

No reply.

"Crap." She muttered angrily as she took action. Alice was forced to straddle Hatter's legs for the second time that day as she leaned over and started hurriedly unbuttoning his shirt. She leaned over and pulled him into a sitting position, but he refused to stay there, so she leaned him forward enough that he was leaning against her, leaving her hands free to slip his shirt down his shoulders and toss it aside once it was free. She pressed closer against him, his chin resting on her shoulder as she peered over his shoulder to fiddle with the clasps on the back. From the looks of them, they had been tightened during the fight, and then some of the clasps had broken when they'd impacted with the wall or the floor during Hatter's fight with Dodo, pinning the vest so that it was way too tight.

Several curses and a few bloody and bruised fingers later, Alice had the straps undone and slid the offending vest off of the man's shoulders and gently lay him back against the tree to his muttered objections. She watched him as he started to come around. Alice looked around and spotted his shirt and grabbed it up off the floor before turning her attention back to Hatter.

He was quite pale, but well built and the left side of his chest was now covered in a large bruise that blossomed like a painful sunset from the spot where the bullet had impacted. Alice couldn't help but stare a little, taking in the pale scars that were scattered across his body, and wondered where they came from. Most of them looked old, a few looked relatively new. There was one in his side that looked like a bullet wound. Perhaps that was the wound that convinced him to wear a vest.

"Hatter?" She asked quietly, leaning forward, tearing her eyes from his chest and looking back to his face once more. He was starting to regain his color already.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

"Hatter!" she shouted, shaking him again, but he couldn't manage to drag himself from his stupor to do anything about it. "Idiot, you're not falling asleep, you're passing out!"

Her words barely registered in his ears as his eyes slipped closed and the darkness took him. Something jostled him again, and he cracked his eyes open slightly, feeling cool air on his arms, but something warm and soft pressed up against his chest. Whatever it was, it sure smelled nice. He pressed his face against the softness and nearly drifted off again until he was jostled once more and the warmth pulled away.

"Heeeey...whaddya doin..." he mumbled as he slumped forward slightly, only to be pushed back and propped against something rough and hard against his back. His chest suddenly felt less restricted and he took a deep breath, and then another, and continued until he almost felt light headed.

"Hatter?"

Hatter opened his eyes, and found he was able to see properly again. He shook his head as if that would help him clear the remaining cobwebs, and felt that sensation of concern wrap around him again, and he realized that Alice was sitting in front of him, his bullet proof vest sitting in her lap, along with his shirt.

"Yeah?" he asked, sitting up, and rubbing his forehead, wincing as he did so.

"Are you alright?" Alice asked, and as he looked at her, he met her blue eyes with his brown, and was surprised, once more, by the concern he saw there. She'd been so angry at him on the lift, and now this? He should almost die more often if this is what came of it. It felt nice to have someone worried about him, especially if that someone happened to be an attractive young woman.

"Better." he admitted before shivering. Hatter looked down at himself and realized that he wasn't wearing his shirt. Not only that, but he had a few rather colorful bruises blossoming like large, painful flowers across his chest and arm. The worst being the one where he had gotten shot. He'd be feeling that one for awhile yet. He hunched over slightly, wondering if she had noticed all of his scars while he had been laying there.

"Here." Came Alice's soft voice and she handed him back his shirt, which he gratefully slipped on. He paused as he buttoned it up, sticking a finger through the hole that the bullet had left, smiling ruefully. "My favorite shirt."

"You're lucky it was just the shirt, and not your chest that ended up with a hole in it." Alice said, arching a brow at him, and he rolled his eyes. "I still can't believe he shot you..." she murmured quietly.

Hatter was silent a long moment as he watched her before he finally answered her. "I can. Dodo is a bitter old bastard. I've known that for a long time now. He hates the fact that I play both sides of the board, but he hates it even more that he can't do without me."

"How did you get wrapped up in all this resistance stuff?" Alice asked, and when Hatter met her eyes, he felt and saw an honest curiosity there.

He shrugged slightly as he answered "I was one of those refugees in the library, once upon a time, when I was a kid. Someone brought me there after my mom was killed."

"How old were you?" she said quietly, a tinge of sadness to her voice as she watched him.

"Young. Lets see..." He leaned back against the tree and looked up into its branches as he did the math. "I was about...forty-one at the time, I think. Long time ago." he said, looking at her with a slightly bitter smile.

Alice went very still as she stared at him, and the look in her eyes was making him distinctly uncomfortable. Not to mention the complete lack of emotion coming from her. "How old are you, Hatter?" she asked at long last.

Hatter wasn't entirely sure he wanted to answer that now, but the look in her eyes demanded it, and brooked no argument. "Er...I'll be one hundred and eleven in three months." He said nervously.

"And that's normal?"

"Uh yeah. I'm still young. I'd be in my mid to late twenties by Oyster standards." he said, inching away from her slightly.

"And is there anything _else_ I should know about you people?" she asked, still in her frighteningly calm voice.

"Er..." Hatter began, inwardly debating with himself. Should he tell her he and just about every other Wonderlander could feel her emotions secondhand? Probably not, but at the same time, if she found out later, and from someone else, he had a very distinct feeling that he'd end up a lot worse than Dodo did after she was done with him. "Well...I..._we,_ that is..."

"Spit it out!" She said, iron control cracking slightly.

"We Wonderlanders can...we can feel the emotions that Oysters are feeling when we're near them. You just kinda...emit them, because they're so powerful. Like a fire emits heat or light." He said, watching her warily.

"You can tell...you can tell what I'm _feeling_?" Hatter wasn't sure how to answer that, he didn't understand her feelings at all right now. They were a swirling mass that confused and alarmed him, giving him a headache if he focused on them too much.

"Only kinda!" he said defensively. "Oyster emotions are really strong. That's why the queen harvests the good ones in her casino. They're ten times stronger than anything Wonderlanders normally feel. Being near you, though, is hard. We don't understand all the feelings that you experience most of the time. They change so fast and are so powerful they usually overwhelm us."

She only stared at him, and Hatter felt his skin crawl at the whirlwind of emotions that suddenly burst forth from her a moment later, like a dam had broken somewhere inside of her.

"That's it. That's enough." Alice said, jumping to her feet and stalking away from him, disappearing into the labyrinth of hallways without looking back.

"Alice?!" Hatter called to her, struggling to his feet, running after the woman. Damn she was fast! He was barely able to keep her in sight as she rounded corners and disappeared down hallways. She didn't slow down until they suddenly erupted into the murky sunlight again, and Alice nearly stomped right off the edge of a little patch of dirt with a tree in the middle.

"Where do you think you're going?" Hatter demanded as he finally caught up to her

"_Anywhere_ but here._" _she snapped, clinging to the tree and carefully avoiding looking over the edge.

"There are 'no-go' areas in this town." He said, annoyed. She'd only just missed walking into one a few turns back. His annoyance only increased as she put the tree between them, circling around as he tried to approach her as though she were using it as a shield against him.

"Well I don't believe this is happening!" Alice cried, sounding stressed and confused. She'd finally reached her breaking point for tolerating the weird, Hatter realized, desperately fighting at the waves of anxiety and confusion that threatened to overwhelm him as well. The last thing they needed was for him to have a breakdown too.

"This place! You people!" she shouted, gesticulating wildly, pointing at him when she said people. He was very nearly offended by the way she said it. "This is all _too weird!_" she cried. In fact, she looked dangerously close to tears.

Oh, hell. Hatter was horrible with crying women, he certainly didn't need her to start doing _that_.

"Look, just calm down." he insisted "I'm going to try and get you home, okay?" Hatter tried to use a soothing voice, but it wasn't easy when her emotions were bleeding over to him, making him anxious as well.

"Oh _really_." She said disbelievingly, moving around the tree once more, forcing him to follow after.

"Yes! Really, I could-" he let out a huff of annoyance as he had to turn around again to try and catch her. "Could you just..._keep still!_" he said, very obviously annoyed as they finally came face to face again.

"And what's in it for you?" she asked bitterly "Let me guess, you want your usual cut up front?"

"I don't blame you for being angry." Hatter said defensively. This whole situation was going to hell in a hand basket at this rate. "I acted..." hmm, what was a good word "impetuously..."

"Selfishly!" she shouted at him, anger the most dominant emotion now. "You acted _selfishly_!"

"Whatever word you wanna..." well, okay, maybe he _had _been selfish "use. Just let me make it up to you!" he insisted, but was met with a cold, stony gaze. "Alice, this is a dangerous place." Hatter said, trying to impress the truth of this on her, if she hadn't realized it already. He took a breath before he spoke again "Trust me, you're going to need my help." It was true, she wouldn't get far without him. She didn't know where the casino was, who she could trust...anything.

Alice gazed at him, somewhat calmer now as she took a breath, her blue eyes never leaving his. What was going on in that head of hers? With her calmer now, thinking rationally, he no longer had any idea of what to expect from her, and somehow, that frightened him.

"And what's in it for you?" She asked him again, though less bitterly this time.

Hatter shrugged "I told you before, I got my name for a reason. Mr. Philanthropist, that's me." Not entirely true, of course. He rather thought that if he could return her to the Otherworld, then he could get his hands on the ring. After all, what would she need it for? It was worthless in her world. But here, in Wonderland, it could make all the difference in the world in the hands of the right person.

Her eyes narrowed and he knew she'd need more of an answer than that at this point. "What can I say? Life's gotten a hell of a lot more interesting with you around." Hatter flashed her a grin. That much certainly was true. It was more than that, though. He'd stepped between her and a loaded gun, taken a bullet for her even. He felt as though he had an investment in her almost. He had been so willing to put himself through bodily harm for her sake not an hour before. Why was that? The smile slipped from his face as he looked at her, waited for her answer, almost lost to his own thoughts as he took her in. She had proved that she was by no means helpless when it came to defending herself, so she hardly needed his protection, only his guidance really. And yet... he would gladly fight for her, he realized as he looked at her, eyes widening slightly at the realization.

_But why?_

"Fine. But if I think that you're lying to me, you _won't_ walk away from the beating I'll give you." she said in a dangerously low voice as she took two quick steps forward and jabbed him in the chest with a finger, eyes hard as they glared up into his.

"Right." Somehow, he had no doubt that she could carry out that threat. He may have something of a legendary right straight, but she'd pulled some moves on Dodo that told him that even if he _was_ stronger than her, he'd be on his back with her boot at his throat faster than you could say 'Tea shop'.

Alice stared up at him for a moment longer before nodding slightly and stepping back.

"Right!" Hatter said with a grin as she finally stopped glaring at him, rubbing his hands together. "We'll stop by my shop first to grab a few things and make our plan."

"Lead the way." Alice said with the slightest of smiles at him, as though amused.

Hatter felt his heart jump, just a little, at that look of near-approval on her face and grinned more widely, turning on heel and leading the way back to his shop.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

**AN: **Man, these chapters just get longer and longer! Lol. What do you think is that good? Would you prefer shorter ones? Longer ones? Is this just right? Let me know in your reviews, along with what you thought of the chapter! I decided to throw in the Alice scene just for kicks, lol. Who _wouldn't_ grab at a chance to undress Hatter? Hahaha XD

Anyways, please do review, it feeds my voracious muse, which in turn keeps me writing!

If you want a bit of tasty Hatter and alice fanart, do please check out my DA at hakari-chan dot deviantart dot com!


	5. The Plan

**AN: **Well here we are, another chapter! I hope you enjoy and if you do, then please review! I've gotten a lot of great reviews from you wonderful reader types thus far, and it really helps keep me inspired to write knowing that so many people are enjoying my work! So keep them coming, my muse has a very fast metabolism! XD

**ALSO **this will be the last chapter you'll be getting until after the first of the new year, I'm afraid. I'm going on a trip to Bruges for Christmas, and I don't plan on bringing my laptop as I probably won't have time nor desire to work on it anyways, lol. So, Merry Christmas to those of you who celebrate! To the rest of you, happy holiday of your choosing, and a fruitful new year to you all!

Chapter Five:

The Plan

Hatter strolled along the sidewalk with Alice close behind, doing her odd hand-on-the-wall shuffle, working hard to keep up with his long, confident strides. The man's mind was working fast, piecing together parts of a potential plan that would get everyone what they wanted. Alice could go home, Hatter would get the ring to Caterpillar, they'd overthrow the Queen, and bam! Happily ever after for everyone involved! Genius.

"The looking glass is the only way to get you back home, and it _is_ here in the city, but it's the most heavily guarded piece of kit in wonderland." Hatter explained, frowning. Getting Alice to the mirror was going to be the hardest part of this little escapade. After all, one didn't just march up to the castle complex and _ask_ to use the mirror. They'd have to be sneaky about this, go in at night maybe and...

"I've got to find Jack first." Alice said firmly before he could further his thought.

"Have you not heard a word I said?" Hatter asked incredulously as he stopped and turned to her so suddenly she nearly ran smack into him.

"Look, I don't know how he got mixed up in this, but I _know_ he's not a thief." Alice said, almost pleading as she looked up at him with those pretty blue eyes of hers.

Hatter had hoped she would have forgotten about this Jack bloke in all of the hullabaloo with Dodo, but apparently not. He frowned, trying to put a stop to this thought of hers right now, shoot it down before she could really get carried away with it...but telling her no in the face of all that desperation she was feeling was getting harder to do by the second. White Queen curse all pretty girls with enchanting blue eyes!

"He was trying to surprise me, and sweep me off my feet..." This Jack of hers had given her a ring. Didn't that have some sort of meaning in the Otherworld? Hatter rather thought it did, and for some reason, that bothered him. "So, _somehow_ he got a hold of this ring and it has landed him in a pile of trouble..." there was that beseeching look of hers again, and it cut him to the quick. "If it wasn't for me, he'd be home safe." she insisted.

Hatter's mind floundered a bit, and he finally seized onto a likely question that suddenly occurred to him that had as little as possible to do with men giving women rings and what that meant. "How _did_ he get hold of it?" he asked, leaning in slightly, pinning her down with his dark gaze. She shifted uncomfortably under his eyes and finally dodged around him all together, taking the lead.

"Well I don't know." she said "The point is, I'm the only one who can get him out of this mess." she said as she kept walking, refusing to look back at him.

"And how do you figure that out?" Hatter asked, eyes narrowed as he moved after her. Did she not realize how much she needed _him_? Never mind this stupid Jack bloke who had gone and got himself nabbed by the White Rabbit.

"Well," she said "I've got the ring, I can use it to negotiate his release." she made it all sound so very simple.

Hatter cringed at the thought of her trying to bargain with the Red Queen. _Definitely _needed to shoot this idea down before it went any further in that pretty, stubborn little head of hers!

"Ahh, no. _No._" Hatter said, bringing her to a stop.

"No?" she asked, and he had a feeling her tone would have been a lot more sarcastic if it weren't for that five story drop off to their left.

Hatter batted away the queasy uneasiness that started to seep from her as she locked eyes on that drop, trying desperately to bring her up short on this idiotic idea of hers before it took a firm root in her mind. "No. You can't negotiate with the Queen. She's crazy-" how to make her understand? How to make Alice see that if she tried the Queen would only have her killed and then pry the ring from her cold dead finger without the slightest twinge of guilt or any other moral or sane emotion? "You have to cut your losses," he insisted, trying to catch her eyes with his, but she wouldn't look at him "get the hell out of here while you still can!"

_That _got her to look at him "No, I can't just abandon Jack. He's innocent." she insisted "And besides...I like him."

"Oh, you _like_ him." Hatter said sarcastically, ignoring the twinge in his heart, another one of her stupid emotions pouring over into him again, no doubt.

"Yes." Alice said firmly, almost sounding offended now.

Hatter huffed and moved around the woman, trying to put distance between them as she started getting riled up again.

"A lot!" She called after him, making him stop as abruptly as he started.

Hatter turned to her "Trust me. I-I know a thing or two about _liking_ people." he met her incredulous gaze head on, leaning down slightly so he could look her directly in the eyes "And in time, after much chocolate and cream cake, _like_ turns into 'what was his name again'."

"No, not in my world." Alice said, annoyed, but flustered slightly under his gaze "I have a bad record, with liking guys..."

"There's a shock." Hatter said caustically, turning and walking away again. This little twinge in his heart was getting to be incredibly annoying, and only more frequent as all this talk of 'Jack' continued. He wondered what it was. It wasn't an emotion that he was at all familiar with, and he wondered what it was that was making her feel this way. It certainly wasn't a very nice feeling. It was almost a little...bitter.

She moved quickly to catch him up, talking as she did so "And this is the first one that has meant _anything_. There is no way I am going to give him up now." she said vehemently as they both moved to side step a particularly awkward overhanging branch.

Hatter refused to reply, though. They were almost to his shop and they could rest there in relative safety before moving on again. Just as they came into view of the shop, though, something caught his eye. There were people on the front porch. And they sure as hell weren't customers. Hatter slowed to a stop, holding out one hand to keep Alice behind him as he narrowed his eyes at the strangers that seemed to be accosting his customers.

"Stay close." he told her, moving forward once more until they reached the half buried telephone box on the corner, ducking behind it with Alice right behind him.

As they got closer, Hatter saw that there was a full royal flush hovering around his shop. He cursed mentally. Great, so now not only did they have the Resistance on their tails, but the Queen had apparently taken an interest in him as well. Shit. Things only got worse as he saw rat there on the steps, talking with the ten of clubs.

"You work with rats long enough and you turn into one, ey?" Hatter observed bitterly. Overhearing the conversation, though, something new occurred to him. The cards weren't after _him_ at all. They were after Alice. Hatter's heart sank sharply as he realized that the Queen must have somehow figured out that Alice had the ring. Even more, they knew that she had come to him for help. Damn that Rat!

"What is that?" Alice whispered from her place at his shoulder, drawing his attention. He didn't have to ask what it was she was referring to. The tall man with the weird rabbit head stuck out like a sore thumb.

"Nothing I've ever seen before." Hatter replied as he observed the man with the rabbit head as he threw one man over the edge when he couldn't answer his question, making Alice let out a little gasp of horror. The more he watched the strange man with his stiff movements, and strangely accented voice, the more a little something niggled at the back of his mind. There was..._something_ familiar about him.

"Wait..." Hatter murmured more to himself than to Alice as he narrowed his eyes towards the rabbit. "No, it can't be..." The strange man swiveled around and seemed to look directly at them, as though he had heard. He strode down the steps with a long, commanding stride, drawing the attention of the suits as he did so. Hatter wasn't a fool. That thing, whatever it was, _whoever_ it was (and he rather thought he might have a frightening idea of just who it was), was definitely heading straight for them.

Hatter stretched out a hand and pushed Alice back and out of sight behind the phone booth, taking one last moment to watch the creature come, before turning and pushing the girl into a quick jog before him. No time for her nerves now. For once, _she_ seemed to be picking up on _his_ emotions, seemed to feel the nervous energy crackling through him, making him increase their pace, his mind racing. He kept a hand on Alice's lower back to keep her moving fast enough "Don't stop, Alice. You _have_ to keep moving." he said to her, glancing back over his shoulder as he spoke. The rabbit hadn't rounded the corner yet, but Hatter had no doubt he would soon.

Something in his voice must have galvanized her into action, because Alice picked up her pace again, determinedly not looking over the edge, and Hatter was able to turn to his thoughts once more. The rabbit man seemed so familiar somehow, and yet he was positive he would remember such a creature if he had ever come upon him in the past. Who would forget a man with a ceramic rabbit head for god's sake? No, it wasn't his face that was familiar, it was the way he moved, it was the hint of former humanity in the robotic voice that jangled some deeply buried memory in Hatter's mind. Frowning, Hatter paused in their quick walk and turned to watch as their pursuer came into view once more. Not running, just...walking with that determined, self-assured stride, in no hurry at all. Like he was certain he would catch them, no matter how fast they ran, or where they went, how well they hid...he would catch them.

"What?" Alice asked breathlessly as she rejoined him at his side. Hatter hardly heard her over the pounding of his heart as dead certainty as to their pursuers identity settled into his stomach.

"We should run." Hatter said, spinning on heel and grabbing Alice by the shoulders and all but throwing her forward. "Run!" he shouted, and Alice obeyed.

They ran like the hounds of hell themselves were on their heels, grassy clearings, hard sidewalks and empty halls all flying past beneath their feet as they fled. "Quickly!" he called to Alice as he passed her, running for a tunnel. Where to hide? Wherewherewherewhere!? Where did one hide from the most deadly tracker in all of Wonderland? The one man...robot...whatever, that could find one rat amongst millions in the underbelly of the city itself?

Not in the city.

How to get out of the city though? They ran along a narrow ledge and Hatter caught at Alice's hand as she nearly froze and tumbled over the edge, and pulled her along, ignoring the vast drop to the waters below. Water. The boat! His boat! The smuggling boat! He could have crowed for joy when he remembered that he had it parked not far away, where it was supposed to be for a change, and not in one of the random ports that he tended to leave it most of the time.

"Come on!" he shouted, taking a hard left into a covered ramp that led downwards, Alice hard on his heels. He paused briefly at the end as he waited for the girl to catch him up, holding out his hands to halt her head long rush, listened hard and noted that he could hear footsteps echoing ominously from within the wooden confines. They were still on their heels. No surprise there, he supposed. Mad March, the Queen's favored assassin wouldn't be thrown off that easily. "That way." he instructed Alice, pointing in the direction of the dock while to took one last second to look back, then hurried after her.

Praise be to the White Queen, his boat was still there, tethered securely to the dock. "Down here. My smuggling boat!" Hatter called as he hopped hurriedly into the little craft. "Quickly!" he shouted, leaning over and opening the engine, pulling at the cord there to start the boat. "Hang on, there's a knack to this..." he muttered to himself, shaking out his sweating hands and trying again. No dice, it still wouldn't start. "Which apparently I have never learned." he remarked bitterly and rushed to the front of the boat instead, hoping, praying, that the switch there would get the damn thing running. March was getting closer and closer and it wouldn't be long before they were in firing range for the suits.

"Come on!" he shouted, banging on the dash._ 'Oh please just start, startstartstartstart you piece of __shit!' _he screamed inwardly. He tried the ignition a third time and heard the engine catch and roar to life. "Yes!" he shouted, and expertly swung the boat around and got the hell away from the dock and out into the open canal, racing for the lake beyond.

Hatter glimpsed back over his shoulder and saw the rabbit, Mad March, standing there on the bank, seeming to watch them go with eyes that could not possibly see. He shuddered slightly and settled back in his seat as Alice climbed up into the passenger seat beside him, also staring back at the group on the bank.

"Who were those guys?" she asked finally, turning around to face him in her seat, raising her voice to be heard above the engine.

"Suits." Hatter answered. "The Queen's men. And the rabbit..."

"I thought you didn't know what it was?" Alice asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I didn't, but..." his brow furrowed "watching, I think its...I think it's Mad March. The Queen's favorite assassin. The most deadly guy in wonderland." Hatter said grimly.

"The guy with the rabbit head?" Alice asked skeptically.

"Yeah. He didn't always look like that though. I had heard that the Queen had him beheaded awhile back. Apparently they decided to bring him back for a job. To find you, no doubt." He said, casting her a glance.

"Boy, don't I feel special." she grimaced, and Hatter almost smiled.

Alice watched him for a long, quiet moment before she spoke up again "How do you know what he used to look like?"

"We've...had a few run ins." Hatter remarked hesitantly.

"What _kind_ of run ins?"Alice asked archly.

Hatter was silent a long moment before he answered. "I nearly got caught, once, doing resistance work when I was younger. I only barely avoided getting caught by Mad March when they sent him after the intruder. If I hadn't stayed in the shadows, if I hadn't been in the water, and wearing a special scent to throw him off my real one...I'd be dead today. As it was, he was nearly able to track me back to the Library." Hatter remembered that grim day as though it had just happened yesterday. He'd _swum_ all the way back, via the canals, hiding under docks, grabbing onto the back of the occasional boat. He'd led March on a merry chase that long, dark night. Eventually, the fake scent had washed away, and the reeking water covered up his own, and March had lost him amongst the pre-dawn shadows. Barely.

He'd have his scent now, though, after being to his shop. Both of their scents. How to escape the man? Thinking on the impossible was giving Hatter a headache. Alice remained silent for a long time, and Hatter came up with plan after plan, only to shoot them down again before they got far. Every idea ended in disaster for them. Where could they possibly go that March could not follow. There was nowhere in all of Wonderland that...

…

Ah.

"Where is the Casino?" Alice asked, finally breaking her silent spell, as though impatient for him to answer her. He wondered if she hadn't been talking to him and he just hadn't noticed.

"I told you, you can't negotiate with the queen." he insisted "But...the White Rabbit is a different kettle of onions..." he mused, the rest of his plan starting to fall into place around the end result "Perhaps they'll do a deal. It's a long shot. The only one we've got."

"We?" Alice asked, turning to him, surprised and curious, and a few other emotions he, once again, couldn't pinpoint.

Hatter considered how best to propose his plan to her. The pity card, he figured, would work best, because in this case, it was true "I don't know if you noticed, Alice, but my shop was ransacked. I'm homeless. I'm a target for not only the Suits, but the Resistance as well, and there's only so many places in Wonderland I can hide. " Hatter felt a little pang in his heart that he knew for sure, this time, was his own. It was true, he had nowhere else to turn to. No friends, no family...no one. The feeling of being so completely alone suddenly washed over him and he rather wished he hadn't played the pity card after all, it had only made him pity himself.

"The way I see it," Hatter continued "I've only got one option."

"Which is?" she asked quietly, turning away from him now.

"Go back with you. To your world." He turned to look at her, only to find himself staring directly into those ice blue eyes of hers, and immediately regretted doing so. There was sorrow there, true, honest to god sorrow and he knew, for once, that it was for him.

She opened her mouth to speak, looking a little at a loss amongst the turbulent waves of her emotions as she did so, and Hatter closed his eyes briefly, trying to block them out. It was too much for him right now. Luckily, she didn't get a chance to speak at all as they both heard a low thrumming sound that made them look over their shoulders. A scarab was closing in fast, making Hatter frown, certain he knew just who was on that ship.

"Before we do anything, we have to shake that royal flush." he said grimly, reaching down to the lever that controlled the acceleration and pushed if forward mercilessly, causing the little boat to jump forward with alarming speed, rocketing, under Hatter's experienced hands, towards shore.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

**AN: **So sorry for the short chapter this time around folks, especially asking if everyone liked long ones last time XD I was planning on writing more, but I ran out of time to do so before my trip, and so this is all you get this time, I'm afraid. I promise I'll try and make an extra long chapter when I return after the new year though! Hope you enjoyed, and keep those lovely reviews coming!


	6. Man vs Monster

**AN: **Please take a moment to read the author notes at the end of the chapter! For the time being, though, please enjoy this very belated chapter!

**Chapter Six:**

Man vs. Monster

Neither of them spoke as Hatter brought the little boat up to full speed, making it skip alarmingly over the water surface, the hull groaning at the strain. The man felt a flicker of guilt for putting his trusty little smuggling craft through such a hard usage, but soon brushed it aside. As long as the boat held out til they could make it to a safe place on shore, nothing else mattered. As it was, after they landed, he'd probably never see his faithful craft again. Not that it _really_ mattered, after all. It was just a boat, and when it came down to his life or his boat, Hatter would choose his life every time.

Sparing a glance from his driving to look at his silent companion, Hatter noted that Alice's emotions had leveled out into a steady aura of grim resignation, which rather worried him. It was better than being constantly accosted and caught off guard by her powerful emotions. For awhile there he had felt as though he were being barraged from every side by new and strange sensations, most of which he did not enjoy. On the other hand, there had been a few that he hadn't minded. For the most part though, he was just relieved that she was reticent for the time being, both in word and in emotion.

Hatter brought the boat around the tip of a little peninsula that was covered in trees, successfully cutting them off from view to those high above in the scarab. Scarabs weren't the fastest things in the sky, but they could carry a lot of men. No doubt the forests would be crawling with suits under Mad March's control within minutes of their landing. They couldn't out fight the suits, couldn't out run them…So he'd have to out think them.

He beached the boat in shallow water and leaped nimbly out onto the shore. At Hatter's impatient gesture, Alice followed suit and hurried out of his way as he quickly went about covering the boat with various tree limbs to hide its presence. He had no doubt it'd be found, but they needed as much of a head start as they could get. Every minute counted after all.

"I-" Hatter began, looking around to speak to Alice, only to find that she was no longer at his side. Standing up straighter, alarmed, he looked further abroad and was relieved when he saw the woman standing further up the hill, seemingly surveying their surroundings. Keeping watch, perhaps?

*"If any of the original Mad March is left in that cyborg, he'll have one hell of a nose for blood." He said, dusting stray bits of leaf and bark off of his hands as he moved to join Alice "And this is the place to find it." His voice was grim as he pronounced the words, looking around them as he did so. He didn't much like the woods of Wonderland. Strange and dangerous things lurked there, and though it made a great place to hide out, Hatter rarely liked taking the chance of being eaten by the beasties that dwelled within just for the sake of dodging mere men. He'd take on a whole deck of suits rather than go in these woods any day. Unfortunately for them, Mad March was another kettle of fish all together.

Beside him, Alice's eyes went wide as an eerie call echoed through the trees, making the hairs on the back of his neck stand up even as he was swamped by a sensation of gut clenching fear. Hatter had a feeling that it was both his _and_ Alice's feeling.

"What was that?" Alice asked in a hushed voice, her blue eyes still locked on the trees around them as she shifted from one foot to the other, hands clenching into fists.

"There's things in these woods that defy imagination." Hatter replied, managing to tear his gaze away from the underbrush and looked to her instead. After a moment, she met his eyes with hers and he felt when apprehension joined the fear, dampening it slightly, but not masking its presence. He wanted to reach out and reassure her, but he couldn't, not when he was so afraid himself. Hollow words were worse than no words at all.

"Come on, we haven't got much time." Hatter said grimly, moving away at a quick pace, not waiting for her to follow. When he got to the top of the ridge, though, and did not hear her behind him, he paused and looked back at her. She was looking up at him with those wide blue eyes of her, seeming small and lost there on her own, a sight that squeezed at his heart for some reason or another.

Hatter sighed "Look, we can't shake the posse." He said resignedly. Better she know the truth of what he had planned ahead of time. Well, mostly, anyways. He didn't have a real _plan,_ as of yet, but it was coming to him in bits and pieces. Already, though, he didn't like where it was going, but he didn't have the time to think of something better. Something safer for the both of them "There's only one thing left to try."

"What's that?" She asked.

"Lead them into a trap." He replied with more confidence than he felt. He moved away again, but this time he heard her begin to scramble after him before he had gotten more than a few steps, much to his relief.

They trudged on through the woods, tripping occasionally on roots that almost seemed to lift themselves out of the ground with the sole purpose of fouling up their feet, determined to make them sprain an ankle or break a leg. The further in they got, the more Hatter felt he hated these woods. Nothing untoward had come at them yet, but he sustained the growing feeling that it would only be a matter of time. Maybe it was something on the wind, or the way the shadows of the forest seemed to get darker, more intense as they went on, despite the bright sunshine above them. The trees seemed to choke the beams of light that spilled down through their branches, as though something were determined to smother it before it could hit the ground. The result was a strange sort of green tinted twilight there beneath those ancient boughs, making it hard to discern things in the distance, or to pick out details on the ground.

"Keep your breathing shallow." Hatter warned Alice as she stumbled along behind him, grumbling in frustration every now and then as her boots caught on yet another fallen branch or raised root. Granted, breathing shallow probably wouldn't hide their presence all that much, but it was better than nothing, and they needed every second of head start they could get if his plan were to work.

The eerie wail echoed through the trees once more, bringing Hatter up short and making Alice gasp, instinctively reaching out to him as she approached him from behind, grabbing hold of his arm for reassurance.

"Did you hear that?" she asked, breathing hard despite his warning. Hatter felt that all the shallow breathing in the world wasn't going to help them now anyways, so he didn't bother to remind her. The cry was closer than it had been the first time now. It had caught their scent.

"Yep, you should find a tree that you can climb." He said, breaking out in a sweat even as she pulled away from him.

"What?! Why?" she demanded, her incredulity hitting him as Alice stared at him, aghast at his words.

"The trap we talked about?" Hatter said, turning to her. He hadn't even started running yet and he was already breathing hard. He wondered if he'd even be able to run after the beating he had taken earlier that day. That pain in his chest was making itself known again "This is it." He turned away from her incredulous gaze, finding that he didn't like it. Couldn't she at least be worried for him? Oh well "I'm the bait." He said aloud, trying to convince himself again that this was a good idea, and that running back to the boat and getting the hell out of these woods was a bad one. The effort wasn't doing much.

Hatter shoved away from her then and started in the direction of the wild call without looking back at her "Go." He said firmly, hoping she would listen for a change.

"Wait! What is it!?" she shouted after him, but he ignored her and kept moving "Tell me!"

He could have groaned aloud when he heard her hurry after him instead of running in the opposite direction like any sane person would have done. As it was, he was too busy feeling afraid to bother with annoyance, and for a change, he couldn't tell what it was Alice was feeling. He stood his ground though, and waited for the creature. Through the fear, though, he did manage to feel a brief blip of surprise when she not only came to his side, but grabbed his arm and looked up at him pleadingly, begging him with her eyes to answer her question.

Dammit.

"It's the Jabberwock." He answered after a long moment in which his eyes held hers, searching them. She was worried, and not just for her, but for both of them. He couldn't blame her, he was more than a little worried himself.

"What?" she said, releasing his arm as she did so. The name that struck fear into the heart of every Wonderlander ever born meant nothing to her, apparently.

"Alice," Hatter said firmly "less of the questions, just get going!" He urged, taking her shoulders and pushing her away. Couldn't she see what he was trying to do?

The push apparently didn't take her very far because she was back at his side a second later, demanding "You're going to lead this thing back to the posse?!" apparently she felt it was an idiotic idea as well. His frustration with her disobedience overrode any witty come back he might have made and instead he said "Yes! After it gets a good look at me! Now could you just _please_ go?!" he said fervently, though it was more of an order than a request.

Alice all but scoffed to his face "_That's_ your plan?" she demanded, all worry overridden by irritation, a feeling he was sharing, though for rather different reasons. Why the hell couldn't she just _listen_ to him?!

Patience used up, Hatter turned angrily to the obnoxiously stubborn woman beside him and shouted "If you don't-…"

Hatter's words were cut off as the bugle of an immense beast ricocheted around their head and ears, announcing the fact that it was far too late to run now. Both of them went silent and looked around, slowly turning as they heard heavy footsteps behind them, and another insistent, territorial howl that was beginning to give Hatter a headache.

As he looked at the creature, he could feel his heart skip a beat, and not in a good way. The Jabberwock was rather a lot larger than he had initially thought it would be. Granted, he had never really seen one in _person_ before…He knew they were large, but…that was just plain ridiculous.

"Run." Was all he could manage to say before another howl from the beast sent him flying. It didn't take him long to realize that the heavy, thundering footsteps of the beast were moving _away_ from him, and not towards him. For that matter, he couldn't feel Alice's ever present emotional pull on him either. Taking a risk and stopping in his tracks, Hatter turned and realized his mistake. He hadn't told her which direction to run in.

"Not _that_ way!" He said aloud, groaning inwardly. They'd only just started and already his haphazard plan had gone awry.

Without a second thought, Hatter reversed his direction and pounded after them, fighting to keep the beast in his line of vision as he dodged around trees and sprinted over uneven terrain, desperately struggling to catch up. For all that she was terrible at following orders, Alice was a fast runner, he'd give her that much. On the other hand, so was the Jabberwock.

Hatter's gaze constantly flickered between his prey and the ground in an effort not to inadvertently trip and send him flying head over heels and thus ruining any chance he had of catching up. His heart pounded in his chest, its beat resounding in his ears like a war drum as he hit a stretch of clear, relatively flat ground and put on an extra burst of speed, further lengthening his stride. All he could hear was his labored breathing and the sound of his feet pounding the ground in time with the beating of his heart.

A cry broke through the pounding though and his heart nearly stopped flat out as he saw Alice tumble to the ground and the Jabberwock lunge after her with a howl of triumph.

"NO!" he roared. Hatter could feel the girl's terror from here and he kept running, feeling as though her fear had given his feet wings, and in a moment he was at her side, wondering at the fact that the creature had not already killed her, until he noted that the Jabberwock had managed to get itself wedged between two trees. Well, no one had ever said they were the sharpest tool in the shed.

"Hey!" he shouted, trying to catch the thing's attention. With every step he took, the Jabberwock got just a little bit closer to Alice where she was pinned in a depression in the forest floor. The creature didn't even look at him, though it bowled him over with the force of its howl. Then, Hatter did the stupidest thing he had ever done.

He punched the Jabberwock.

Hatter landed a solid blow in the side of the creature's head, and felt bone fracture beneath his fist with a certain amount of satisfaction, his blood thundering through his veins and hammering in his ears as he reached down and pulled Alice to her feet while the beast recoiled in pain, braying like a dying donkey. The sound grated on the nerves like nails on a chalkboard.

"Come on!" he shouted, desperate to flee. He doubted he could land such a blow twice, so speed was the key now. "Are you okay?" he asked, pulling Alice along behind him as she fought to catch her balance.

"Yeah." She gasped as she hit her stride and they ran side by side as fast as they could, _away_ from the Jabberwock.

"Good." He replied, a hand on her back again to hurry her along and steady her as he cast a glance over his shoulder in time to see the monster manage to wrench itself from the grasp of the trees and walk _around_ them this time "Come on!" Hatter shouted, urging the woman at his side on.

They didn't go far, though. Just as he thought his legs might give out from exhaustion, Hatter felt himself falling. He watched as the ground fell out from under them, had a brief impression of sharpened stakes, and then there was pain.

"Ow." He groaned, inwardly wondering what god or higher being he had offended to earn himself such treatment as he had gotten today. He'd been shot, punched, kicked, and generally beaten today, and now, as icing on the cake, he was at the bottom of an eight foot pit filled with sharpened stakes. Just what the _hell_ had he done to deserve all this?!

Hatter managed to raise his head high enough to look around and spotted Alice in a similar position, not far from him "You okay?" he asked, voice rough from exertion and still gasping for breath. At least he wasn't wearing that damned vest anymore.

The woman seemed a little overwhelmed and out of breath herself, panting to fill her oxygen starved lungs. She managed to nod after a moment, though, and Hatter wasn't entirely sure she was. Her emotions grabbed at him again, and they were a mess. After a moment though, relief bubbled to the surface and dominated the swirling vortex of feelings, and she finally spoke.

"Pretty much." Was her reply.

He would just have to satisfy himself with that answer for the time being, he supposed. He wasn't entirely sure _he_ was okay, and he hadn't been the one pinned by a ten ton Jabberwock. Hatter grunted as he tried to sit up, pain lancing through him as he tried, and he flopped back onto his back. He'd give it a minute. Surely the Jabberwock wouldn't find them…

Nevermind.

Pressing himself back into the ground, Hatter hissed "Don't move." to his companion, and she seemed more than willing to oblige. Granted, it might have been horror that kept her immobile as the Jabberwock's massive head descended into the pit, its reeking breath smothering them as it tried to reach them where they lay in their makeshift hiding place. Luckily, the stakes that had failed to impale them, managed to fulfill their function in keeping the monster at bay. Hatter grimaced as the stupid creature pierced its jaw on one of the sharpened points, letting out another teeth grating howl in its pain.

The creature retreated then, and for a long moment, Hatter simply lay there, catching his breath and listening with all his might. The heavy footsteps of the Jabberwock soon faded into the distance though, and soon, all he could hear was their labored breathing. He turned his head slightly and looked at Alice once more, who met his eyes and gave him the smallest of nods, as though agreeing with him that the coast was clear. That was a good enough signal for him, so Hatter fought to sit up once more, groaning in agony as pain lanced through his back and abdomen. He'd officially been beaten from both sides today, even his right hand was throbbing where he had taken on both a stone pillar _and _a man eating monster that day. He felt like an over tenderized steak.

Just as Hatter managed to pull himself into a sitting position, the pain subsiding somewhat as he attained the position, there was a clatter from above them, making them both look up in surprise. It sounded like someone had sent a sack of old tin cans rolling down a hill.

"_Vermin!_" Came a voice from within the 'tin cans', making them both blink in further surprise "Saboteurs! Anarchists!"

An insulting pile of tin cans at that. The quavering old voice that accosted them grated on Hatters ears and made him frown in annoyance, squinting against the light that silhouetted the figure at the edge of the pit, struggling to make out some detail about just who was haranguing them.

"I was _this_ close to catching him!" Hatter's eyes finally decided to focus properly and the man was met with the sight of a decidedly odd person perched on the edge of the pit and glaring down at them. He was all dressed in white painted armor that looked like it had seen better days, and he seemed quite displeased with them for stumbling into his pit. "_This_ close!" the stranger insisted again, though Hatter rather thought that it looked like he had changed his measurement.

"Degenerate bag heads!" he added, twitching his mustache disdainfully.

Hatter opened his mouth to let out a stream of expletives himself, but Alice cut him off "Hey! Would you save the shouting for later and just get us _out_ of here!"

He could feel her annoyance rolling off of her in angry waves. Apparently she didn't like being insulted from afar while stuck at the bottom of a pit either. There was further grumbling from above, and Hatter wondered if the crazy old coot wasn't going to just leave them there, when he was distracted by movement at the corner of his eye. Turning his gaze to his companion, he watched Alice roll to her knees, a frown on her face.

"Are you alright?" she asked, surprising him with her question as she got to her feet and dusted herself off as best she could in the dim light.

"Uh…" Hatter patted himself down, as though double checking, and then looked up at her "Yeah, more or less."

She smiled at him then, taking him even further off guard to the point where he wondered if he wasn't flailing his arms for balance literally as well as mentally. It was small, and a little lopsided, but it was a smile all the same. Luckily, he wasn't spazzing as much as he feared he might be, so when she offered him a hand up he was able to grab it without looking _too_ foolish. He couldn't help but groan, though, as he slowly got to his feet and straightened himself out bit by bit. That sensation he had come to identify as concern radiated from Alice for the second time that day, and Hatter found that he was grateful for that. Somehow, it made his aches and pains a little easier to bear.

"Um…" Alice said a little awkwardly, shifting her weight to one foot and looking anywhere but his face "Thanks."

"For what?" Hatter asked, the words rolling off of his tongue before he had a chance to think. Not exactly smooth of him.

The little smile appeared again, a little wry this time, but stronger than the last one. Hatter liked it when she smiled, he decided "For punching a giant man eating monster in the face for me." She clarified.

Hatter grinned.

~*~*~*~*~*~

*[_"If any of the original Mad March is left in that cyborg, he'll have one hell of a nose for blood."]- _this isn't the original line, but since I made Hatter familiar with Mad March in the previous chapter, I tweeked it a bit, for continuity's sake. I won't deviate from set dialogue often, but when I do, I'll put a little asterisk by it, and a note at the bottom to let you know.

**AN:** Hooooooly cow but this took rather a bit longer to get to you reader than I initially planned…I apologize for the delay ;o; I came back from my trip on the first of January and found that I had lost my drive for writing in general, not just this story. Day before yesterday, though, I was bored and happened to reread my previous chapters and decided that I felt like writing again after all! So here you go! Sorry its not longer, but it seemed like a good place to start, and a good length to kinda work myself back into the habit of writing. Hopefully the next chapter won't take as long as this one did, lol.

Please read and review, it really means a lot to me and helps feed my hungry hungry muse…


	7. White Knight and the Green Eyed Monster

AN: I'm not even going to make excuses for why this is so late...To be honest, I just lost inspiration for it. On the plus side, I got the Alice dvd, and so now I don't have to find it on youtube anymore! Also, this month is NaNoWriMo, and though I SHOULD be working on my actual Nano story, lord knows I'll probably use this fic to distract myself when I get bored, so you can expect more updates this month! I won't promise you anything by a specific date though.

Chapter Seven:  
The White Knight and the Green Eyed Monster

Hatter all but basked in the glow of Alice's thanks, and despite all the pain he _knew_ he should be in, he found it quite easy to ignore his discomfort in the face of her small smile. The moment didn't last long, though, as a roughly hewn ladder was suddenly dropped down between the two of them, which Hatter reached out reflexively to grab before it could topple over onto Alice. The two shared a look and then turned their gaze upwards, but saw nothing except the blue sky and the fringes of the trees that surrounded the clearing.

Alice turned a questioning eye to him, and Hatter could only shrug and adjust the ladder so that it was stable. Well, stable enough anyways, it looked alarmingly rickety.

"I'll go first." Hatter said, holding out a hand as Alice moved forward to do so herself. Before she could object, he mounted the ladder and climbed up quickly, hand over hand. When he clambered over the edge of the hole and turned to hold the top of the ladder so that Alice wouldn't fall, it occurred to him that if he'd had the sense of a tea cup, he'd have let the girl go up first and been rewarded by a nice view of those fetching legs of hers...The man let out a small sigh of regret, but was soon distracted when the dark head of the girl in question appeared, along with a pair of white knuckled hands that were trembling slightly as he took hold of them. Her blue eyes turned up to him in surprise and he gave her a reassuring smile as he helped her up so that she wasn't forced to look down again. Oh well, the slight wave of gratitude that emanated from her as he handed her up more than made up for his missed chance.

However, no sooner did they have both feet on the surface again, then they were barraged by an old, quavery voice that called them all sorts of rude things. The old man had apparently been watching them from the other side of the massive hole and now that they were out of it, took the chance to stomp forward, muttering unusual curses at them and looking very irate, his large white mustache and goatee a-twitch with indignation.

"Suberters!" He growled, followed by a curse that Hatter could make absolutely no sense of, before finishing with "Bug Bashers!" and a particularly formidable grimace.

Hatter felt Alice's annoyance swell again from where she stood at his side, but he himself was more on the confused side. _No one_ lived in these woods, not with that bloody Jabberwock wandering about. So just what was this old coot doing here in the middle of the forest hurling insults at them?

"Who the hell _are_ you?" Alice demanded vehemently. He really couldn't have said it better himself.

That seemed to get the old guy's attention, because he suddenly stood ramrod straight and stared down his rather formidable nose at them "I," he began, and stomped forward with much clashing and clanging from his bizarre armor. If you could call it armor. It seemed to have more holes than not "am a knight!" he proclaimed, much to Hatter's surprise, which only grew when the old man seemed to become abruptly less angry and a little more courteous "A _white_ knight, to be precise."

_'Riiiiiiiiiight'_ Hatter thought to himself, situating himself so that he was slowly inching between the man and Alice. Who knew what the nutter had planned.

*"Sir Charles Eustace Fortheringay LeMalfoy the _third_." the supposed white knight proclaimed quite proudly.

Hatter just stared, not entirely sure what to do with an old man who claimed to be a member of an extinct people. Was he dangerous? Probably not. He could take him, but still, totally wasting their time. Alice, he could tell, was just as confused as he was, though no doubt for different reasons.

The old man raised one eyebrow slightly, still staring down his long nose at them, and inquired "Who... are you?"

Not entirely sure he wanted to answer that question, Hatter was saved the effort when Alice haltingly spoke up "I'm...Alice."

Hatter looked at her when she gave her real name, unsure she should have said that. For all that he was some crazy old guy living in the woods, this person was still a Wonderlander, and _all_ Wonderlanders knew of 'Alice of Legend'. Most of them, by now, would no doubt be on the look out for this new Alice. _His_ Alice.

"Alice?" the old man asked, leaning forward with a curious look in his beady old eye that Hatter was certain he didn't like _"_The Alice?_" _He asked, taking a step towards the girl, who eyed him warily _"The_ Alice?_" _the old man repeated, leaning even closer to look at the woman until their faces were scant inches apart.

"No." she replied, her feelings of discomfiture leaking into Hatter's awareness and making him shift "Just...Alice." she remarked, her blue eyes roving over the other man's face.

Said man seemed to consider this, looking off to the side, his eyes turned upwards in thought as he rolled the title over his tongue "Just...Alice." He made one of those old man groaning noises then as he squinted off into the middle distance, as though this name didn't compute with him at all.

Taking the man's moment of silence as a chance to speak up, Hatter finally said "I thought all you guys were wiped out years ago." He watched the man with his dark eyes, waiting to see what answer this nutter could possibly give. He had to be a sham, there was no way any of the _real_ white knights had survived the war. Just who the hell _was_ this bloke?

"Well, you thought wrong." was the annoyed reply as the man's demeanor changed all together "As you can see, I'm as fit as a butchers dog." he said quite proudly, putting hands on hips a little too forcefully and making himself cough.

Hatter decided he didn't know _what_ to think.

"Are there any others like you?" Alice asked, shifting her feet impatiently while Hatter kept a close eye on the odd ball. A good enough question, he supposed, though he knew there was no way there were.

"Ceratainly not!" was the almost laughing reply as 'Charles' turned and walked away "I'm a one off!" Whatever that meant "My nan used to say," the old man began with a smile, turning to face them again as he reached the edge of the pit "if I was the only eligible bachelor left in the world," here he bent over to pick up a shovel "there wasn't a warthog or wallflower who'd polish my escutcheon." the Knight laughed then, and Hatter wondered if Alice would be _too_ horrified if he just pushed the old man into the pit. He didn't have a chance to suggest the idea though, as Alice spoke up again, somewhat impatiently.

"No, I meant are there any other _knights_ in these woods? Um...your...comrades in arms." she asked, clearly a little confused as to how to take this stranger. Even she must have realized that he was off his rocker. Well, more so than your average Wonderlander anyways.

"Heavens no! Are you mad? We were all wiped out _years _ago." he said with a disdainful laugh, shovel still resting on his shoulder.

An inconsistency in the story suddenly struck Hatter, bringing him out of homicidal considerations that involved obnoxious old men falling down very deep holes.

"You dug that pit on your own?" Hatter asked, pointing to the massive hole that he and Alice had seen more than enough of. No way some old man could do that on his own!

That seemed to strike the wrong chord with the old man, because he suddenly frowned intently and advanced on the pair of them, dropping his shovel as he came "You think I'm _too old._" he muttered as he came "Now you let me tell you something, nugg face," he spat, making Hatter take a step back, gently pushing Alice behind him as he went "youth is _vastly_ overrated. I may have put on a few years," he blustered, still walking, forcing the younger pair to continue retreating "but I'm crafty. I've a very inventive and calculating mind, stacked _high_ with ground breaking state-of-the-art ideas! I invent all sorts of things!"

He'd finally stopped walking now and Hatter shared a look of disbelieving wonder with Alice that they had found such a strange person here in the middle of the woods. It was weird even for Wonderland.

"The beehive mouse trap, for instance." the oldster continued thoughtfully, mustache twitching still with indignation at their disbelieving looks "This here _pit,_" the man went on, upset again as he ran halfway back the way they'd come before returning to them "as you so _rudely_ call it, is in fact my _third_ attempt at the Gravity Assisted Snare, mark four." At that point, their accoster seemed to get completely distracted and wander a few steps away, as though forgetting they were there in the blink of an eye. With that, Hatter came to another decision.

"He's mad as a box of frogs." he pointed out, quite obviously he thought, as he turned to Alice, who seemed rather lost herself "How the hell have you _survived_?" Hatter demanded, turning on heel to look at the man in white again, still unable to believe that his story was true. Bird song was the only sound to be heard in the woods as he waited for his answer. The supposed white knight was standing, arms outstretched, as though feeling for something no one else could see. Hatter looked around, but had no idea what the old man was looking for, and was further convinced of his madness when he finally _did_ reply.

"Hm?" the 'knight' asked, seemingly forgetting what they had just been speaking of. Hatter could have punched him "Oh, right. I'm a Knight!" He said with a smug grin, as though that were the only answer required.

Yeah, definitely off his rocker.

"And an inventor, as I said." Charlie continued, walking past them now "Though, if I'm honest...it's strictly on a part time basis."

"You don't say?" Hatter remarked skeptically as the old man came to a stop once more, wondering just how much longer he was going to have to put up with this guy. Maybe he'd get distracted and wander off and leave himself and Alice to their journey.

"And I dabble in the..._black arts_ now and then." The old mans voice had changed again, becoming a sort of parody of someone far more sinister in both appearance and intent. As it was, it just made Charlie seem that much stranger "Soothesaying, toenail readings, that sort of thing."

Hatter made a face of disgust at that last part. Toenail readings? Really? The wiggly finger motions that accompanied the description didn't really help things. He turned to Alice, ready to say that it was time to go, when Charlie made a grab for her hand.

"Here, let me show you! Give me your palm." he said, voice genial once more as he took her hand in his and pulled it towards him.

A flash of alarm rippled from Alice, and she quickly snatched her hand back from the old man "No, get off!"

The knight went very still then, his hands frozen before him as he stared at Alice in disbelief "What's that on your finger?" he asked, pointing to the offending appendage without taking his gaze from her face.

"Nothing." Alice lied, and Hatter was somewhat surprised that he could feel the untruth leaking out beneath the layers of worry and the small tinge of fear as she realized that the ring had once again been recognized.

Pulling his attention away from the girl and placing it back on the old man, Hatter watched Charlie closely, waiting for him to make a move. Did the old codger really recognize the ring? Not many did. Everyone _knew_ about the ring, certainly, but so few knew what it looked like. Hatter himself hadn't known what it was until Dodo had gone and had a raging fit over the thing.

"It's the sacred ring," Charlie started advancing again, the expression on his face almost painful to look at in it's heart wrenching desperation "the Stone of Wonderland..._our_ ring."

"Don't get too excited, Granddad." Hatter said firmly, placing himself between the two and grabbing the knight's chest plate as Charlie almost went to grab Alice's hand once more. Did he plan on trying to take the ring? Well, he could try, for all the good it would do him "The ring stays on the lady's finger, Okay?" he said, eyes narrowed, shaking the old coot a bit to make his point.

To his surprise, though, Charlie only gave a sort of breathless groan as he turned and sank to his knees and clasped his hands before him as though in prayer "It is meant to be...this time, this place, this meeting in the woods..."

Hoo boy, here came the mystic mumbo-jumbo again "Okay, we need to get away from him before he gets us killed." Hatter said, taking Alice firmly by the arm guiding her away from the old man where he knelt on the ground, groaning and muttering incomprehensibly to himself. At the touch, even through the fabric of the coat he'd given her, Alice's normal muddle of emotions became more clear to him. Beneath the thin veneer of worry, which seemed to be something of a constant with her, Alice's mind was working quickly, calculating, judging, coming to a decision.

"Well, maybe he can help us." Alice said, pulling away from Hatter and glancing back at the man in question.

"Have you forgotten about the weirdo that's tailing us?" Hatter demanded. He sure as hell hadn't. They'd already been here with this crazy old man longer than they should have, who knows how much ground they'd lost thanks to him? "This..." Hatter paused, trying to think of a word that adequately described Charlie. Ah, of course "_freakshow _is going to draw his attention for sure!"

Alice was still looking at Charlie, taking his measure as she thought, not meeting Hatter's eyes, much to his annoyance "This knight has survived out here for this long..." she said, and then finally turned her eyes back to his again "Maybe he knows a thing or two."

That was if this crazy old man even _was_ a knight. Sure, he recognized the Stone of Wonderland, but that didn't necessarily mean anything...he could just be some...some...some _guy,_ living out here in the woods!

Hatter didn't even have a chance to give voice to his objections though, as Alice rounded on heel and walked back towards the old man "Look, Charlie," she said "we have some very bad men following us," boy wasn't that an understatement "who want to kill us and steal the ring. Do you know anywhere we can lay low for awhile?" She asked hopefully while Hatter stood back and watched, waiting for her to come to her senses.

Her only reply was the old man's creaky voice declaring: "The stars stars are aligned in a cosmic ray of hope!"

"And you want to put your faith in him?" Hatter asked bitterly with a sneer. Some knight he was. He couldn't keep his attention on something for more than thirty seconds at a time. Bloody old fool.

"Yes." was Alice's quick reply as she moved back to his side once more, an undertone of energetic purposefulness that came from finally grasping at something that might help their situation threatened to carry Hatter along with it, but he was determined to remain the skeptic. He mentally locked down and refused to be swayed. They didn't need some crazy, mercurial old man slowing them down and distracting them.

"He might be nuts, and a hundred and fifty years old, and dressed like a car crash, but...he's a survivor." she insisted, looking up at him imploringly with those big blue eyes of hers. Hatter tried to resist even looking at them, focusing on a spot somewhere past her left ear, because he _knew_ that as soon as he made eye contact, there'd be no way he could say no to whatever it was that she asked of him. Hell, that was practically what had gotten him into this whole damn mess to start with.

Pretty girls came waltzing into your life, all wet, clingy dresses, distress, and big pretty eyes, asking you to _do_ things for them and you don't _want_ to, but you know, and _they_ know, that you can't say no. White Queen protect him from pretty women with big blue eyes and stubborn dispositions!

Despite his best efforts, Hatter found himself meeting her bright eyes with his dark ones, and felt his objections tumbling away, and her energy infecting him, despite all the thoroughly logical _reasons_ he had to forbid her from asking this old loon for help. In the face of her hopeful visage and delicately wrinkled brow, there wasn't a god damned thing he could do. Even worse, she was nibbling her lower lip to boot, her straight, white teeth just peeping from below her upper lip and making indents in her full lower one. She had wonderful lips...so full and soft...

Luckily for Hatter's pride, he was saved having to cave in to her demands right then and there by the old man himself, objecting loudly to their conversation.

"And I'm _not_ deaf." Charlie remarked, getting to his feet with a clatter reminiscent of the Tin Man rolling haphazardly down a hill as he turned to face them, balding head held high, goatee'd chin jutting out resolutely. "Just Alice," he began, hands at his side, seeming quite respectful now "I, Sir Charles Eustace Fortheringay LeMalfoy the Third, White Knight, and Guardian of the Curtsey..."

Hatter raised an eyebrow at the man did indeed curtsey, and quite neatly too "Oop, very nice." He said, wondering just what a 'Guardian of the Curtsey' did, but was not given a chance to ask.

"Will be honored to accompany you, your goods..." a look of distinct disgust crossed the old mans face as he searched for a suitable word to describe Hatter himself "and..._vassal _" both of Hatter's eyebrows threatened to disappear into his hairline at the other man's choice of words "to my sacred kingdom." The old man finished with a bow and an ingratiating smile that made Hatter want to punch him more than ever. Vessal indeed! What in the name of tea was that even supposed to mean?

"Did he just call me a vessel?" He demanded, pointing at the old man and turning to Alice for confirmation. She didn't answer him, as she was still looking at Charlie, but he felt a brief swell of amusement and he wondered what he had said.

Before he could ask, though, a pained grunt from Charlie drew both of their attentions.

"Quickly, quickly," he groaned, still stooped over from his bow "sacroiliac**..." he winced again as he motioned at his lower back.

"Oh for crying out loud." Hatter complained. Alice gave a sly sort of smile that she tried to hide by turning away, but she gestured with her head that he should help the old man. Apparently, despite his objections, they were going with him after all. He had hardly even had a chance to argue! Though really, he knew that he wouldn't have been able to dissuade her. One look from her had him practically falling over himself to go along with whatever she wanted, he realized. This epiphany left him feeling more than a little disgruntled as he went to help Charlie upright with perhaps a bit more force than was strictly necessary.

"Straighten, straighten...straighten! Hard, hard!" the old man wheezed, and Hatter was more than happy to oblige, pushing on the geezer's shoulder and shoving him upright with the popping of many joints.

"Good-oh." The knight said as he slowly took a few pained steps forward. Hatter watched him go with a shake of his head. Just what had they gotten themselves into?

As Charlie hobbled his way past Alice, the woman turned and looked to Hatter in bemusement, which pulled him at least partially out of his sulk. As he stepped up beside her and they followed the knight deeper into the woods, Hatter felt a sort of contentment coming from Alice. Not straight up happiness, but she seemed relieved to have a solid course of action to follow. Something that didn't involve running headlong through the woods being chased by giant scaly monsters and men with ceramic bunny heads. Granted, said man with with the oddly shaped head still _was_ chasing after them, but now they had somewhere to go.

Hatter sighed and decided not to further batter his logic against the brick wall that was Alice's determination. It wasn't like he really had any other ideas. He wasn't particularly keen on venturing out to find the Jabberwork again, especially after the way the first try had played out so spectacularly. But not.

Just as he came to this decision, a soft whicker brought his head up to focus on his surroundings again. He had lagged behind Alice a bit in his distraction, and he felt the most peculiar sensation come over him that distinctly reminded him of excited, squealing little girls. It was discomfiting for a man to experience, to say the least, and he frowned and shook himself, looking to Alice, wondering what on earth could be making her feel that way.

Charlie was a little ways away, talking animatedly to a pair of horses as he stroked their noses lovingly, one gray and one brown with white stockings. Ah. Horses, of course. They were practically every little girls weakness, even here in Wonderland, and apparently, one that Alice still harbored as an adult.

Hatter cleared his throat as he came to stand next to Alice while Charlie went about un-tethering the animals "So, you...ah...like horses?" He asked, tilting his head slightly to get a better look at Alice's face.

The woman looked up at him in surprise and flushed. "Am I that obvious?" she asked, looking away, embarrassed.

"Not on the outside." he admitted, and it was true. If she wasn't an Oyster, he probably wouldn't have known what a great love for the animals the girl harbored.

Looking back at her, though, he wished he hadn't spoken. Her face had paled and gone very still. Suddenly, Hatter felt as though a wall had formed between them. For the first time since he met her, Hatter had no idea what she was feeling. Where before he had been inundated with her every feeling, like a paper boat awash in a great and fast-flowing river, experiencing everything as she did, feeling every surprise, every fear, every brief burst of contentment and worry...suddenly he was by himself again in the dry riverbed of his life, in his own head with his own, pathetically weak emotions. It was as though he had been a blind man given the gift to see for a few brief moments, only to have it taken away again. It left him feeling...empty.

Was she...blocking him? Could an oyster _do_ that? She walked away without saying anything, and Hatter found himself sincerely wishing that he hadn't reminded her of how different she was, of what she did to people like him.

It must be disturbing, he realized, to discover that everyone knew exactly what you were feeling at all times, as though you had it written in bold faced print across your forehead. He had a feeling that in her own world, it was as little an issue for her as the same would be for him here, amongst his own people. The man felt that as though by pointing out this fact a second time, he had crossed some line with her. Like he had forgotten the most common of courtesy's in dealing with another person. She knew that he couldn't help that he could feel whatever she did, and he knew that she couldn't really help that her emotions were so powerful, but by bringing this fact to light again, he felt...rude? Was that it? Not quite...almost like he had been caught reading her secret diary or something.

Hatter hesitated, feeling disturbed in a way that he hadn't felt in a long time, like he had done something _wrong_. Granted, he did the wrong thing fairly often in his line of business, but this wasn't for some self proclaimed better good, or even for personal benefit. He felt guilty and...The man thought for a moment, assessing himself mentally. It was an unfamiliar sensation, and weak compared to what he felt through Alice...but it was there none-the-less, and the feeling was all his. It came to him then. He felt as though he had wronged her, like he needed to apologize, _wanted_ to apologize. He was sorry for so casually bringing to light something that she was ashamed of.

"Alice! Alice wait!"

She stopped as he called her name, but didn't turn to look at him. To all intents and purposes, she was watching as Charlie went blithely about the business of saddling the horses and strapping various bags and such to their backs.

Hatter moved to her side and looked at her as she stood there and all but ignored him. She had her arms crossed over her chest, her pale hands knotted in the sleeves of the velvet coat she wore, still completely closed off from him.

The silence was deafening.

"Look, Alice..." the man began, unsure of himself. All he knew was that this lack of sensation from her was, possibly, even more disorienting than the whirlwind of emotions that she normally wrapped him up in whenever he was around her. He had to make it right "I'm sorry. I'm an idiot, I shouldn't have said anything." he said in a quiet, sincerely apologetic voice. It wasn't one that he employed often.

He regarded her steadily, watching for any changes in her face or stance, and was rewarded when he saw her look at him out of the corner of her eye.

"Yeah, well, I'm sorry for_ inconveniencing_ you with all my emotions." was her bitter reply.

Hatter winced slightly at her tone "Look, this...thing..." he fumbled for words, trying to describe her situation without making it more painful, though feeling like he was failing "it's no big deal. Just be yourself, yeah?" he finished hopefully.

Alice turned her head slightly to see him better, narrowing her eyes, as though trying to decide how he was benefiting from all this.

"I mean, just don't bottle it up like you're doing. That can't be healthy." he added hurriedly, trying to make a successful argument that wouldn't offend her further. He shifted under her hard gaze, then felt the wall between them crack, and then disappear altogether as emotions came flowing thick and fast. Hatter had a moment of panic as he felt like a drowning man in a vast and stormy sea as her emotions swirled around him, complex and completely baffling to him. He heard Alice take a breath, and then he felt the proverbial waters slow, and then still. Then, there was only a sense guilt, a thin sheen over a vast depth of something much more complicated that Hatter couldn't even begin to understand. Guilt was hard enough for him.

"I'm sorry. It's gotta be weird for you too." she said, loosening her hold on the coat that he had given her and nodding her head to him in acknowledgment of his own odd situation in being saddled with her.

Hatter only shrugged and grinned at her, relieved that things were, more or less, back to normal between them. He was spared having to say something further when Charlie called out to them.

"Just Alice! Your noble steed awaits!" the old man said with a cheerful grin and a bow, making Alice chuckle quietly and step off towards where he was waiting for them.

Hatter felt a brief , sharp pang in his heart that he recalled feeling earlier in the day when they pair of them had been walking back to the tea shop. What was this? Why was she feeling it again? Closer examination of her, though, led him believe that she was feeling only a muted sort of amusement. The foreign and surprisingly strong emotion, he realized, came from himself. What was it?

Hatter paused, brow furrowed as his steps slowed, and then stopped, one scarred hand going to his chest, thinking that maybe it was just the pain of the bruise on his chest resurfacing, but knew he was wrong. This feeling was all his...and it was a bitter, ugly thing. He thought for a moment as he realized that it was a vaguely familiar sensation. Did he serve it at his Tea Shop? He didn't often partake, but sometimes when new merchandise from the Casino would come in, he would test it to know just what it was he was selling. The answer came to him then. That small, innocent looking bottle full of that bitter smelling green liquid that he had sampled and immediately gagged on. It had been so powerful, so..._consuming..._that he had decided not to sell it at all. If people walked around feeling like _this _towards one another, people were going to end up dead outside his shop, and that was the last thing he needed.

The bottle still sat amongst a jumble of others on the shelf behind his desk. He had seen it only this morning when he had given that rat his reward for bringing Alice to him, his eyes skimming over it's deceptively insipid little label in search of another, more positive, emotion.

Jealousy.

Why was he jealous? And of Charlie of all people? He scoffed mentally and pushed the thought and it's unwelcome accompanying feeling aside and moved quickly to join Alice and the old man in question, ignoring the little voice that had lain dormant so very long as it whispered treacherously to his heart...

'_It's because he makes her laugh...'_

Charlie was already mounting the gray and white gelding when Hatter caught up to Alice, who was holding the reigns of the brown mare.

"Lady, perhaps your..._vassal_" There was that bloody word again "would give you a leg up and lead your horse for you?" Charlie suggested from where he sat, turning slightly in the saddle to get a better look at Alice.

"What? There's no way I'm bloody walking all the way there!" Hatter said, glaring at the knight.

"Well you can hardly right with the Lady. It's not at all appropriate." Charlie sniffed disdainfully.

Before Hatter could say something thoroughly rude, Alice cut in, placing a calming hand on his forearm "Don't be ridiculous Charlie, of course he's going to ride with me."

Hatter felt a smug sort of happiness run down his spine, warming him from head to toe, inspired no small amount by her casual touch on his arm. He smirked up at Charlie, who frowned.

"But-" the knight began to object, but Alice waved off his words impatiently.

"Come on, it's absurd to make one person walk. It would slow us down, and to be honest, I don't have enough experience riding to do so on my own. I've never actually ridden at all, really."

Hatter looked at her surprise. Judging from her love of horses, he'd automatically assumed that she'd had quite a lot of contact with them. He, on the other hand, had a good deal of experience riding. It was a pretty common mode of transportation for your average Wonderlander if they were traveling outside the city. There were few real roads through the wilderness here in Wonderland, so any vehicle that didn't fly was pretty useless.

So she couldn't ride, but he could. She didn't want anyone to walk because it'd slow them down. So they'd both be riding. There were only two horses and he wasn't about to ride with Charlie so...His heart jumped slightly when he finally put two and two together. She wanted them to share a horse. He'd have to be in front to steer so...she'd be sitting behind him, her front pressed up against him his back...

Hatter strove valiantly to master the urge to grin triumphantly at this delightful little turn of events, and only just barely succeeded.

"Well, that's settled then." He said with a cheerful smile that set Charlie grumbling. Hatter ignored him.

The man stepped up to the brown mare and stroked her soft nose, letting her get his scent so she didn't spook, whispering a few soothing nothings to her as he did so. She seemed a good natured horse. His impression proved true as he ran his hand along her side as he moved towards the stirrups and swung himself neatly up into the saddle without her so much as flicking an ear.

"Up you get, then." Hatter said, turning to where Alice still stood on the ground, though her face now had an odd sort of expression, as though he'd surprised her in some way. He couldn't make more of it than that though, and so he simply offered her his hand to help her up. "Put your left foot in the stirrup to boost yourself up, take my hand with your left, and help pull yourself up by grabbing the saddle with your right." he explained as her expression changed to one of worry. That emotion was easy enough to read. It was her first time on a horse, and she didn't want to screw up.

After a moment's hesitation, she placed one hand in his and followed his directions, and after a quick swing and a pull she was astride the horse without mishap.

A quiet "Oh!" was the only noise she made when she landed behind him. With a smile and a silent chuckle, Hatter clicked his tongue to the horse and gave it a gentle nudge, and she started forward with a will to catch up with Charlie, who had started off as soon as Alice was seated.

They rode in silence for a few minutes, and Hatter was finally forced to speak.

"Hey, loosen up, will you? Feel's like I've got plank of wood riding behind me. It's hard on the horse, you know."

Alice stiffened even more at the criticism, but the thought that it was hard on the horse seemed to make her forgive him, and she loosened up some, and started moving more in time with the sway of the horse's gait.

Ahead of them, Charlie started singing some nonsense song to himself, and Hatter found his gaze wandering to the woods around him. They passed by immense trees, a lake, and eventually broke out onto a hillside, to ride along it's crest at the edge of the woods for some time. The vast mushrooms growing in the distance particularly caught his eye. He had heard stories about them. Giant fungi that stretched hundreds of feet into the sky. Entire forests of them far to the south. He'd never been far out enough from the city in this direction to see them before. He wondered what it was like closer to them. As he watched, some distant wind that they couldn't feel caught at the spores on the mushroom's cap and blew them away into the sky, looking for all the world like snow, though he knew from stories that inhaling those spores in large quantities could be deadly.

"It's beautiful." Alice murmured from behind him, more to herself than anyone else. He had to agree.

It was a few hours later, some time after re-entereing the seemingly never ending forest, when Hatter grew tired enough of the distressing sameness of the forest before him, that he actually took a moment to look behind him. For the first time he noticed that there was something dragging along behind them, tied off from ropes that were attached to the saddle.

It was an odd sort of net woven from ropes attached to a cross section of wood. As he watched the ground that the net passed over suddenly grew green and un-trampled as new grass sprouted up wherever they passed.

Alice turned to look as well as he remarked "Even works over mud. It's wiping the tracks clean away." He was impressed in spite of himself, and judging by her expression, Alice was as well.

"Maybe Senile Sam does have a trick or two up his ah...escutcheon." Hatter turned to look behind him again, catching his companion's small smile of amusement. Encouraged, he continued "You comfy?"

"No, of course not." was her dry reply, and he laughed to himself. Riding wasn't easy on the rear, that was for sure, especially if it was your first time.

"Why don't you just lean forward and put your arms around my waist and let my body take the weight?" he asked, the words tumbling out of his mouth before he had a chance to really think.

"Yeah, I'm good." she said quickly, cutting off any limited hopes he might have harbored. Ah well, didn't hurt to try. He had to laugh at her hurried denial though, especially as it was accompanied by no small amount of embarrassment on her part.

As they rounded the last bend, Charlie had stopped his horse and turned to face them in front of a stand of trees near an impressive drop off. As they got closer, he reached out behind him and pushed aside a few branches.

"Welcome," he said "To the kingdom of the knights."

Hatter felt Alice's sharp intake of breath behind him as he spoke softly "Well well, what do you know."

The fabled lost kingdom of the white knights...It was beautiful, in a desolate, almost sad sort of way. Truly breathtaking, really.

Alice pressed closer behind him so that she could see over his shoulder, and her feeling of awe, magnified by body contact, augmented his own, and Hatter found himself more than happy to simply sit there for a long minute and take in the view in companionable silence with the woman behind him.

~~~~~~  
AN: Well, I hope the length of this chapter made up for the long wait you all had to endure! If you enjoyed it, and even if you didn't, please leave a review! All reviews are used as sacrifice to appease my mercurial muse. The more reviews, the more I'm willing to write!

* Sir Charles Eustace Fortheringay LeMalfoy the Third - I kinda guessed on the 'Fortheringay' part, lol. I have no idea how one would actually spell that XD

**Sacroiliac – for those of you wondering ( cuz I know _I_ had to look it up, lol ), the sacroiliac is the joint in the bony pelvis between the sacrum and the ilium of the pelvis. If you want more than that, you can go look it up yourself XD


	8. You, not We

AN: There's really no excuse for this taking so long, beyond my usual one of having lost inspiration...so I apologize for the wait! Please read the Notes at the end of the chapter as well ^_^

Enjoy, and R&R!

Chapter Eight:

You, not We

Charlie didn't let them linger long at the overlook, but soon pushed them on down a small, narrow path that ran along the ridge, gradually making it's descent and heading toward a bridge that spanned the impressive canyon. Alice pulled away from Hatter's back as they started moving again, much to his disappointment. He had rather hoped she would forget her resolution not to hold on to him. The sharp drop to their left made her withdraw into herself, focusing on taking long, deep breaths and carefully looking to their right, into the trees.

Sensing this, Hatter avoided striking up any more conversation, not just for her sake, but for his own as well. He couldn't bear the sensation of her terror pressing against his mind, making him freeze up, and his stomach lurch. The very thought made him queasy. He felt for Alice. It must be hard to live with that kind of fear constantly lurking in the dark corners of her mind, just waiting to jump out and take over when she least expected it.

The small group rode in silence for some time, and Hatter content to do so, lulled into a calm by the slow, even gait of the horse beneath him. The quiet was interrupted only by Charlie occasionally breaking out into sporadic song, or long, windy tales of adventures long past that Hatter only listened to with one ear as the scenery drifted past. It didn't take them long to come to the bridge that spanned the mighty gap they had seen from the ridge. He felt Alice go rigid in the saddle behind him as he steered Guinevere onto it, and said "Just close your eyes, we won't be here long." in a quiet voice that Charlie would not over hear.

He felt, rather than saw, Alice nod stiffly, and after a moment, Hatter was surprised to feel her slip her arms around his chest and bury her face in his back. That hadn't exactly been what he had been hinting at, but he sure as hell wasn't going to complain. Happy that the woman behind him couldn't see the broad grin on his face, Hatter spurred the mare into a trot, realizing he had let her drift into a relaxed amble as they hit the bridge. For a moment, his own pleasure overpowered whatever he might have felt from her.

Alice's arms were pressed tightly into his chest, and her presence, warm and soft at his back, soaked through his leather coat, as did every little emotion that rippled through her lithe frame. Touching, Hatter realized, made it all the easier for him to feel what she was. Deep down, Alice was fighting with her fear of heights, which she knew to be pressing in on her from all sides, saved only by an ancient stone bridge beneath Guinevere's hooves. Overshadowing that unpleasant sensation, though, was a sense of safety that she implicitly believed in and clung to with everything she had. Hatter wondered if it was possible that _he_ was responsible for this feeling, or if she relied on something else to get her through. The idea of the young woman at his back relying on him so steadfastly made him happy for some reason.

Charlie was waiting for them on the other side of the bridge, frowning ferociously at Hatter, who only winked cheekily, unable to help rubbing the old man's nose in what he no doubt thought of as a highly inappropriate situation.

The old man ruined it, though, by clearing his throat loudly, making Alice sit up straight with a jolt, her eyes wide and blinking as she looked around "Dear Lady," Charlie said with an ingratiating smile "We are almost there now, have no fear."

"Thanks, Charlie." Alice said with a small smile. Though she had pulled back from him again, Hatter could still feel the embarrassment radiating from her. He decided not to comment.

XXXX

Charlie came to a halt and dismounted at the base of a massive white chess piece. At least, Hatter _assumed _it was a giant chess piece. That was all he had seen afar in any case. The thing was so tall, stretching far up above the canopy of trees surrounding them, that he couldn't tell what piece it was. There was a make-shift stable there, rough branches woven into a canopy over a rocky out-crop to keep the worst of the weather off of the horses. The old man set about removing the gear from his horse as Hatter dismounted.

"We'll leave the horses here and continue on foot." Charlie explained, looking up and smiling at Alice where she still sat on Guinevere's back "I'm sure your _vassal _would be more than happy to see to the horses with me, no need to trouble yourself, Just Alice."

Hatter snorted and Alice shielded a small smile of amusement with the fall of her long, dark hair, before a look of worry crossed her face as she looked at the long drop to the ground from the horse's back. He felt the quiver of annoyance that rippled through her, making him give her a puzzled look as he held the horse's reigns.

"Need help?" he asked.

"No." Alice said tartly, throwing back her shoulders. Hatter realized that though she couldn't help being afraid of heights, the fact that she _was_ annoyed the woman. He didn't feel her usual fear though, so he didn't think that the drop from the horse was bothering her so much as the fact that she thought _he _thought it did. Hatter huffed. Women were so bloody _complicated _sometimes.

"Just hold it still, will you?" Alice said as she leaned over and awkwardly slid off the beast's back, boots thumping on the soft turf a moment later. Hatter felt a brief flash of triumph from her as she turned and looked at him, quickly hiding it away. He couldn't help a teasing smile that turned into a chuckle when she scowled at him.

Alice marched past him and looked about the clearing while Hatter and Charlie went about their work. The old man hummed under his breath, but Hatter caught him throwing the occasional dirty look when the other man thought he wasn't looking. Guinevere was a biddable horse, and gave him little trouble, and he soon had her unsaddled, brushed, and tethered for some grazing, as Charlie directed him with the occasional grunt and gesture to the things he needed.

Grumpy old bastard.

Finished, Charlie ushered the both of them onward, bringing up the rear himself, directing them to the path at the far side of the clearing.

"So, who ruled here, Charlie?" Alice called back over her shoulder from the front of the line as they walked.

The old man seemed more than happy to oblige with the tale, as he cleared his throat and began "Before the war with the Queen of Hearts, this was once the greatest city in the realm." The old man sighed sadly "The Red King and his elected council ruled Wonderland with the wisdom of the ages."

"And the Hearts destroyed everything?" Alice asked as she looked around her. Hatter felt awe and sorrow rise up from within her, and he had to share the sentiment.

"We lived in harmony for a thousand years." Charlie explained as they walked "But when the Queen came to power...She just wanted to feel the good, not the bad." They came to a stop, and Hatter's eyes roved over their surroundings. Past the massive trees to the crumbling, but still mighty towers that stood everywhere he looked. The colossal monuments to a by-gone era in Wonderlandian history made Hatter's heart ache, the sensation taking him by surprise. His eyes darted briefly to Alice, and while she looked impressed and a little saddened to see so much greatness brought to dust, it was nothing what like he was experiencing. No, this sensation growing in his chest was all his own. Remorse for the last golden age of Wonderland before it's one hundred and fifty year descent into madness, greed, and depravity.

"Believe it or not, this was once the throne room." Charlie remarked quietly, breaking into Hatter's reverie, making him glance around to the clearing that they looked across from a rise at the base of a massive Knight tower they stood beneath.

"Sadly, all that's left now...is the throne." the old man added, voice barely a whisper. Despite Hatter's dislike for the barmy old man, he looked away out of respect as a pained look crossed the Knight's face, making him look older, and more tired than ever.

Charlie shook it off, though, and motioned them cheerfully towards the camp he had made up in what was left of the throne room of the Red King, and showed them around. Hatter found it creepy, setting all that up so close to a skeleton. He felt as though it watched his every move with it's empty eye sockets. Suppressing a shiver, Hatter joined Alice in the search for fire wood that Charlie set them on.

The old Knight's camp was strange, full of bizarre contraptions that Hatter could only guess at the purpose of. Some of them he rather thought were just heaps of junk bundled together for later usage. It was hard to tell between the two. But there was a hut of sorts, a hammock, and a cooking fire, amongst all the debris, and Hatter found himself happy to see even this small piece of sanctuary in the midst of these ancient towers and wilderness.

By the time twilight began to settle gently across their temporary haven, Charlie had a good fire going thanks to his odd air-pumping mechanism, and Alice was helping him prepare dinner. Hatter sat off at a distance on the crumbling remains of what was once probably a wall, lost in thought while the two chatted and went about their work.

He'd had to remove himself from Alice's vicinity to think. Not that she was much for inane chatter like some of the women he'd known over the years, but he needed to think for himself a bit, without the influence of her emotions in their constant ebb and flow. Pulling himself away from her hadn't been easy though. Here, in a place of safety at long last, Alice was finally _relaxing_. She was not just calmer, but in a good mood. Cheerful even, as she helped Charlie prepare their dinner, laughing at his odd stories and mannerisms, her positive feelings warming Hatter more than the fire the old Knight had built. It would be far too easy to just lay back and bask in all that happiness, but he couldn't. He needed to think, and she was simply too distracting.

Hatter sighed heavily and placed his head in his hands, elbows on his knees as he closed his eyes. He took a deep breath and fought to absorb the quiet of the forest around him, trying to put up a mental block against Alice. He could still feel her emotions, even at this distance. No doubt in her relief at being safe, she had forgotten that he, and no doubt Charlie as well, could feel everything she did. In doing so, the control she had been working on had slipped away completely. He could feel her behind him, her happiness a temptation that tickled his back and echoed like a sirens call, urging him to return to the warmth of the fire to indulge in her smiles while they lasted.

He gritted his teeth, though, and visualized a wall between himself and Alice. It was tall, cold, and made of white marble. He focused on building it up around him, brick by brick, to shield him from the world...and from her. Soon, he couldn't feel her at all, and was alone in his own mind at last, able to think.

Passing by those towers, and looking out at them now, made Hatter realize that, despite his fears, he couldn't leave Wonderland. No matter how much he wanted to run, he couldn't. No matter how afraid he was of Dodo and what he might do, Hatter had to stay and fight. They couldn't just let the Queen go on the way she had, keeping the people of Wonderland under her heel, drugged and submissive with the emotions of captive Oysters. Captive _people_. Calling people from the other world Oysters dehumanized them, he realized, made it easy to hide the guilt that welled up within you if you thought about things too hard. How many thousands of people had been drained of their emotions, their very souls? How many families were left behind, forever wondering what had happened to their loved ones? How many mothers, fathers, children, husbands, wives had Wonderland stolen, used up, and then carelessly discarded?

The casino had to come down. The Queen and her whole house of cards with it. He'd never be able to live in peace knowing that he had taken the cowards road. Hatter did what he had to to survive, but he was no coward, quick to run just because a few madmen and a government agency or two were out for his hide.

The injustice of it all made his blood burn in a way that was unfamiliar to him. He _had_ to stay and help, to do what he could. Hatter didn't know how big of a difference he, a single man, could make...but he'd do what he damn well could until he couldn't do it anymore.

What he _needed_ was a way back into the good graces of the rebellion, and more importantly, Dodo. There was only one thing that would be able to do that.

The Stone of Wonderland.

Hatter sighed and massaged his temples. Alice was going to hate him, she really was. How was he going to get the ring off her? More importantly, how was he going to get her back home first? That was something he knew he had to do first and foremost. His gut twisted at the thought of her leaving, but he knew what had to be done, what was right.

His traitorous heart whispered that he could keep her here, with him, convince her to help him and the rebel cause. Convince her to forget this Jack bloke...

Hatter shook himself physically and mentally. This wasn't her world, and it wasn't her fight. She and her people were just the victims of a vicious cycle that had begun in Wonderland over a century ago, and he couldn't let her get embroiled in the war that would soon break out. He'd known her such a short time, hardly a day, and yet he knew that he had to get her out, no matter what. Had to make her safe...

Again he shook himself, and this time he jumped to his feet, springing easily over the wall he'd been perched on and walked back towards the camp where he could smell that dinner was about done. It was dark now, and Hatter had come to his decision. It wouldn't be easy to break it to Alice. In fact, he had no idea how he was going to get her to go along with his plan, but he would. He had to.

XXXXX

Dinner was a mostly quiet affair. It wasn't an uncomfortable quiet though, rather, a companionable one. Charlie seemed mostly lost in memory as he ate, obviously not used to sharing meals with others these days. He seemed to forget the need to talk, except to himself mostly.

Hatter ate little, despite the fact that he _should_ have been starving. His stomach was too busy tying itself in knots out of nerves, though, as he waited for a chance to bring up his change in plans, shuffling his food around his plate in the mean time.

Luckily, he was saved the effort when Alice brought it up herself after Charlie toddled off into the darkness to check on who-knows-what. Her bright blue eyes followed the old man until he was out of hearing before turning back to him, expression serious.

"What I want to know is how we're going to cut a deal with the white rabbit. Is it really possible?" Alice's tone was quiet, but intense as she met his eyes, the fire at her side casting stark shadows across one half of her face, leaving the other half softened by it's golden glow.

Hatter was quiet a moment as he collected himself, fighting to suppress the butterflies in his stomach "I know a girl," he began, wiggling his eyebrows at Alice "Carlotta Sin-Deleware, hm?" He forced a smile to his face to hide his apprehension. She didn't seem to buy it though, only shifted slightly and narrowed her eyes into a calculating look, so he hurried on "...Who dates this guy, who used to play cards with a rich kid, who once studied law with an electrician, who works part time with one of the technical staff."

Alice just looked at him, and Hatter got the distinct feeling that she was not impressed "I _did_ say it was a long shot." He remarked as he hauled himself to his feet and moved around to the other side of the fire to put away his plate "But as long as you've got that ring, you've got a chance."

"You?" Alice asked, climbing to her feet to gaze at him across the fire "What happened to _we_?"

Hatter could feel her anxiety suddenly spike, despite her calm countenance. She was afraid he was going to leave her. As if he _could_. He'd only known her a day and yet he'd already risked so much to help this strange woman. Not that she'd needed any saving, really. She could more than protect herself, as she had proven. No, all she needed was guidance, and here was his chance to guide her in a way that would benefit them both. _If _she would listen. The man released a tired sigh that he hadn't realized he'd been holding back in the first place, and spoke the words that he hoped wouldn't drive her away from him entirely.

"I can't leave, Alice. Wonderland's my home. I can't just abandon it, despite what I said." His tone was quiet as he spoke, almost resigned "I have to stay and fight."

"What?" she asked. The disbelief and skepticism coloring her voice cut Hatter deeply. Did she really think so little of him? Was it really so impossible that he might be moved enough by the plight of his people to want to stay behind and fight for the chance to make a difference?

"Seeing all this, look, this great kingdom," He spread his arms wide, as though to encompass the entire dead realm of the knights "and what...what's become of it. It's a wake-up call, to be honest." Disbelief still shone in her eyes, though, and Hatter felt compelled to convince her that he spoke the truth, that he was better than the low opinion she clearly held of him. How to make her see?

He moved from around the fire, stepping closer to her in an unconscious _need_ to make her understand "My people, I mean, the hundreds of refugees that are all _hiding_ underground...they're all counting on _me_." he said emphatically.

"Wait, didn't that Dodo guy say he was going to have you hunted down and _killed_?" She countered, turning to face him. Some of her disbelief had faded, but Hatter knew the hardest blow was yet to come.

"Yeah." He began, nonchalant in his agreement, but quickly turned serious as he leaned forward and met her blue eyes with his brown ones, imploring her with his gaze to understand as he said "But, I'm thinking... if I turn up with the ring, he might forgive me."

_Please...Please understand..._

She was silent for a long moment as she stared up into his eyes. He watched as they widened, and then went dark with hurt and...betrayal. Hatter almost winced as he felt that cold, bitter emotion grow within her.

"So that's what this was about?" She said, her voice still calm as she turned her gaze from his, though it was tight with emotion that she was striving valiantly to keep under lock and key.

She succeeded only marginally. Hatter turned his face from her as he felt the anger spark within her and surge forth with growing intensity.

"Don't worry, I'll get you home safe and sound first." He said, trying vainly to reassure her.

"And Jack?" she asked, eyes cold, her voice hard.

The name made Hatter's gut churn and he felt his own anger bubble forth, causing him to suck in a breath between his teeth and turn hurriedly from Alice's accusing gaze before he said something he would regret. There was so much anger between them, reaching out from her and stoking the embers of his own until they roared into flames that had not existed within him since...ever.

"You have to forget about Jack." he growled "We'll never get him out of the Casino alive, and trying is only going to set off alarm bells. It'll make your escape impossible!"

"Ok, so you were just leading me on back there." she said, bitterness tangible in her voice as she spun on heel and retreated to the far side of the fire.

"Just believe me, it'll be suicide!" he shouted, fighting the anger within him as he did so. Why? Why couldn't she just understand? Why couldn't she just leave this idiot Jack to rot and go home while she still could? So what if they were in a relationship? So he had given her a ring? So what if she _liked _him? Unable to contain himself, he growled and paced, wanting nothing more than to lash out, verbally, physically, emotionally...anything!

Hatter turned back towards the fire, a sharp retort on the tip of his tongue...when the anger within him died as abruptly as it had begun. He watched her as she stared, unseeing, into the fire, hunched over, arms folded almost protectively before her. He could feel the frustration pulse around her, nearly as warm as the heat of the fire, though it was quickly cooling and being replaced by an inner disquiet that was no doubt focused on Jack.

Releasing all of his anger in one long sigh, like a balloon released of it's air, Hatter could only stare at the woman, and try to ignore the ache that was building within his chest "Jack's a lucky guy." he murmured under his breath. What on earth had that bloke done to attract someone like her? Someone who traveled across a strange world she knew nothing about in the company of even stranger people just to rescue him...

"What?" Alice said, her head snapping up to look at him.

"Nothing." he replied tiredly, feeling as though the weight of the world were settling on his shoulders "Look, it's late." he said, attempting to offer the proverbial olive branch. She steadfastly refused to look at him, though, as he came around the fire. He moved closer, offering her a smile "We can...argue about this tomorrow. Yeah?" He leaned in, but Alice still refused to acknowledge him, making him sigh once more. Giving up for the time being, Hatter turned his back to the fire and wandered off in hopes of finding a soft place to sleep

XXXXX

The quiet crackle of the dying flames was the only sound that reached Alice's ears as she lay on the bed, eyes closed, Hatter's coat pulled tightly around her. Charlie had fallen asleep hours ago, but Hatter, maddening man that he was, had only just drifted off. She lay perfectly still, breathing as quietly as she could while her ears strained for any slight noise in the camp.

The occasional quiet snore or mumble from Charlie's hammock was all that reached her ears. Hatter's bed in the straw in the hut remained ominously quiet. She _thought _he had fallen asleep, maybe she was wrong and he was still awake after all?

Minutes ticked quietly past, each moment an agony of tense waiting until, finally, Alice could stand no more. She opened her eyes and looked around surreptitiously, but saw no movement in the light of the slowly dying fire. Charlie she all but ignored, her eyes going directly to Hatter's slumped form. Her heart nearly stopped when she saw him sitting up in the straw, propped against the wood frame of the wall. A minute's silent watching showed that he was unmoving but for the even rise and fall of his chest, his head resting against one shoulder in what looked to Alice to be an extremely uncomfortable position for sleeping. She wondered it he had been trying to stay awake to keep watch over them, only to finally succumb to sleep himself in the end.

Alice couldn't help but think that it was just like him not to wake someone else to take over the watch. He just had to do things himself.

Sitting up as quietly as she could to keep the ancient bed from creaking too loudly, she slid across the mattress and stood slowly, all but holding her breath as she did so. There was no movement from either the hammock or the hut, and so she finally allowed herself to take a breath and relax a bit. The breath turned into a sigh as she looked around the odd hodge-podge of a camp. Alice _knew_ what she needed to do, but for once, that didn't make things any easier for her.

She was a young, independent woman who did what needed doing, no matter what...she wasn't used to wavering the way she was now. Alice knew that she couldn't let Hatter have her ring. She couldn't trust these rebel friends of his, as had already been demonstrated with that whole Dodo debacle earlier. Her anger and betrayal from earlier had died down some after she had gone to bed, though Hatter's asking for her ring once more had made her want to punch him. She hadn't though. She couldn't in the face of such an unselfish need (supposing he was being truthful, anyways). Though that still didn't mean she'd give it to him. No, Alice had to do this herself, on her own strength, because in the end, that was all that she could really count on to get her and Jack home safely.

Wasn't it?

Alice found herself closer to Hatter than she had been a moment ago, before losing herself in thought, and froze mid-step as the man suddenly stirred and mumbled something to himself as he settled further into the hay and fell quiet once more. Hardly daring to move, Alice found her eyes inexorably drawn towards Hatter's sleeping face, only just visible in the muted light of the fire. It cast his features in golden hues that flickered and changed as the flames did, softening the tired lines of his face. She was forced to turn her gaze from him after a moment as an unexpected feeling of regret washed through her.

Hatter was a good guy, she was sure of it. But just because he had helped her out didn't mean she had to trust him completely, right? She'd only known him a day, after all. What kind of person threw themselves completely at a strangers mercy? Granted, she had done just that, when she really thought about it. The idea frightened her. Why _had_ she done it? She, who had such trust issues, especially with men...why had she attached herself to Hatter the way she had?

Because she'd had to.

Even as she thought it, Alice knew it wasn't complete truth. She shook her head slightly, frowning at Hatter as she forced herself to admit that, no, she hadn't been _forced_ to trust Hatter, or to accept his offer of help. She'd chosen to of her own free will. She was honest enough with herself to know her limitations and her strengths. She knew her own stubborn pride could have driven her to decline help, even in a strange place, and forced herself onward on her own strength. It was stupid, but true. A little niggling piece of her, somewhere in the back of her mind, called attention to itself and forced Alice to admit that perhaps, _perhaps,_ it hadn't been the offer of help that had driven her to accept, so much as the man making it.

The thought made her wince.

Was she really the type of girl to just throw herself at the first good looking guy to offer her a hand when she was in trouble? _Especially_ when she was trying so hard to rescue her boyfriend? Alice put brake on that kind of thinking. She could admit that she was stubborn, but she also knew that she wasn't that type of girl either. She would own, though, that something about Hatter _did _make her want to trust him, despite his fundamental un-trustworthiness, as paradoxical as _that_ sounded. After all, wasn't he the Wonderland equivalent of a drug dealer? _And_ he'd tried to pawn her ring off to Dodo. Granted, he hadn't _known_ that it was so important to her, but still...

Alice sighed and dragged a hand tiredly down her face in frustration, freezing as the man she was standing over stirred again, as though in response to her quiet sound of annoyance. Hatter's lips turned into a frown, and a little crease formed on his forehead right between his eyebrows. She pressed her lips together to keep a smile from coming to her lips as she observed him. She'd be lying to herself if she said he wasn't cute like this...or cute in general. Well, if she was _really_ going to be honest with herself, she'd have to call him flat out handsome. Particularly when that frown fell away and was replaced by his wicked grin that lit up those dark eyes and made her want to smile in turn...

Alice shook herself firmly and turned away from Hatter and walked towards the fire, clamping down on those silly, pointless observations so she could focus on what she _needed_ to do. She needed to get out of here before Hatter and Charlie could wake up and stop her. She knew that Hatter would only try to convince her to do things his way, and Charlie would go on and on about how 'The Alice' couldn't go and put herself in harm's way like that. No, she had to do this herself because that was the way it _had to be_.

She wondered how many more times she'd have to repeat that to herself before she believed it.

Making a decision before she finally forced herself to leave, Alice looked for a place to hide the ring. After all, she couldn't just walk up to the Queen of Hearts and expect to walk away again if she actually had the ring on her person. Hatter and Charlie had convinced her of the Queen's cruelty enough to know that it was a necessary precaution.

Hiding the Stone of Wonderland in some random patch of woods wasn't an option, though. She'd probably never find it again. She was sure, however, that she could find Charlie's camp again. When she returned, she was figured she could handle him. Hatter she was less sure about, the idea made her queasy to even think of for some reason, but Alice had a feeling that once she was gone, Hatter wouldn't stick around. After all, he'd made it no secret that he didn't particularly like Charlie.

Alice couldn't help snorting to herself in amusement as she remembered a few of the dry comments Hatter had made on the older man's odd habits as she looked around. The perfect spot occurred to her as her eyes swept over the eerie form of the dead king on his throne, only just barely visible in the dim light of the fire. Moving as quietly as she could across the camp, Alice hurriedly slipped the ring from her finger, onto the bony digit of the long dead king, forcing herself not to think of how thoroughly creepy this was. How did Charlie sleep at night with this dead body looming here at the edge of the camp? Gave her the willies.

Business of hiding the ring concluded, Alice started to leave, but paused, fingering the hem of the purple velvet coat she wore. Hatter's coat. She couldn't take it with her, it wouldn't be right, not when she was depriving him of the ring that he had convinced himself that he needed so badly. Especially after how much he had helped her. Granted, things had gone horribly awry, and he _had_ tried to convince her to hand over her most precious possession...but he had tried.

Alice shed the coat reluctantly. Walking through the woods was going to be much colder without it, but she'd warm up after she got moving. She turned and searched for a place to leave it where Hatter would notice it first thing. If nothing else, it would serve as a sign that she had left, and not just wandered off. She hoped they wouldn't try to follow her. Alice prayed they would get the message and leave her be, and yet...

A little part of her hoped that _would _follow her. That they...Hatter..._would_ find her again. Alice's eyes drifted to the man's sleeping form once more as she hung the jacket on a nearby ladder.

She would allow herself _one_ moment of weakness, just one...and then she would leave...

Hardly aware of what she was doing, Alice walked back across the camp one last time and came to a stop at Hatter's feet. Looking down at him, she couldn't fight back the small smile that crossed her face this time. Thoughts of their short time together welled up within Alice's mind as she found herself crouching before the man, gaze locked thoughtfully on his sleeping face. For all their differences of opinion, this was a man who had helped her when she needed it most. He'd taken a bullet for her, not knowing for sure that he would be struck in the one part of his body that happened to be protected. What was more, for all that he wanted it so badly, Hatter had never once tried to take the Stone of Wonderland from her by force, despite how important it was to him.

Alice crawled forward quietly now, her eyes still locked on Hatter as she unconsciously licked her lips, arms and knees moving carefully so that she didn't bump against him, her nose filling with his now familiar scent. He wouldn't even know she had been there, what she had done...

"Thank you so much, Hatter." she whispered, her face scant inches from his before she pressed her lips gently to his and then quickly pulled away.

She left, then. There was nothing more to do but go on her way before she was discovered. Alice knew she had wasted time and risked discovery with what she had done, but...deep down within a part of her she tried to ignore, she was _glad_ she had done it, even if Hatter would never know. She supposed it was selfish of her, but there was nothing she could do about that but tuck the memory away deep within her heart and keep it there always.

She had a Queen to strike a deal with, after all.

AN: I'd just like to credit the inspiration for the kissing scene to InuGurl107, who did an Alice Meme on DA aaaaages ago that I saw. She had drawn out a little picture of Alice kneeling over Hatter about to kiss him, saying 'thank you' for one of the questions, and I loved the idea so much I had to kidnap it for this fanfic! Haha XD So you get to thank her for that little bit of Alice/Hatter goodness ;D I tried to find it on her DA account again so I could link you guys, but I couldn't find it, so I guess she deleted it D8

It's been so long since I updated last that I wonder if she even reads this anymore ;o;

I feel guilty now, lol.

Thanks for reading! All reviews a served as fodder for my voracious muse! They more she eats, the more she inspires me!


	9. Intermission: Returning

Brief Intermission

Teaser

The sound of a crow's distressed cries woke Hatter from his uneasy dreams the next morning. The sudden movement as he startled into wakefulness aggravated his many injuries, making him wince as pain rippled through him from head to toe. It felt like he'd been tied up and then dragged behind a team of horses in his sleep

"What was that?" he called irritably as he struggled to his feet, muscles crying protest as he did so. The echoes of the many pieces of junk that Charlie called an alarm system giving the younger man a headache to add to his list of pains.

"It's the early warning system," Charlie said as he got to his feet after a tumble out of his hammock "someone has broken through the perimeter!"

At the knight's words, alarm flooded through Hatter's system, clearing out the last of the cobwebs left over from a restless night's sleep. His mind automatically went to Alice, and his head snapped around towards the bed where he had left her sleeping the previous evening after their argument. Hatter felt his heart stop when he did not find her there.

Turning to look at Charlie, he demanded "Where's Alice?"

Authors Note: I'm baaaaaaack! I'm not going to bother explaining why I haven't updated in like...a year and a half. Lets just say life has been interesting.

Regardless, followers, if any of you are even still around, will no doubt be happy to hear that I have, once again, regained my muse for this story. I'm working on chapter nine, now, and even better, I wrote out my entire outline for the story. This means, even if I do go on hiatus again, I won't have to worry about forgetting what I have planned, lol. That being the case, you should probably know that I plan to change the ending a bit, when we finally get there. I'm sure I wasn't the only fan who was less than impressed with the climax of the story where people are apparently too stupid to realize that the army of their gates is just a bunch of skeletons on sticks, and then the Queens men just turn on her at the drop of a hat...Lets just say things are going to be quite a lot more interesting ;)

I also plan to flesh out Hatter's history a bit, so you can look forward to that as well!

I should have the full version of Chapter Nine up by this next weekend, so see you then!


	10. Spirit

**AN: **Well here we go again! Some overlap from the teaser, but that's ok, haha. Sorry this is a couple of days late, but this weekend has been busy!

Enjoy! And please leave reviews! I've got an outline finished for the story, but if you guys don't review, I won't have the inspiration to change it into chapters!

**Chapter Nine**

Spirit

The sound of a crow's distressed cries woke Hatter from his uneasy dreams the next morning. The sudden movement as he startled into wakefulness aggravated his many injuries, making him wince as pain rippled through him from head to toe. It felt like he'd been tied up and then dragged behind a team of horses in his sleep.

"What was that?" he demanded irritably as he struggled to his feet, muscles crying protest as he did so. The echoes of the many pieces of junk that Charlie called an alarm system giving the younger man a headache to add to his list of pains.

"It's the early warning system," Charlie said as he got to his feet after a tumble out of his hammock "someone has broken through the perimeter!"

At the knight's words, alarm flooded through Hatter, clearing out the last of the cobwebs left over from a restless night's sleep. His mind automatically went to Alice, and his head snapped around towards the bed where he had left her sleeping the previous evening after their argument. Hatter felt his heart stop when he did not find her there.

Turning to look at Charlie, he demanded "Where's Alice?"

The old man panicked, and Hatter felt on the verge of doing the same himself as he crammed his hat onto his head and started forward, his eyes scanning the camp, praying that Alice had simply woken first and was somewhere nearby.

"Battle stations!" Charlie cried as he stumbled up the incline, grabbing up an oversized ladle as he did so "Drum the ordinance of the seraphim!"

Hatter didn't hear the rest of the old knight's fearful cries; barely even noticed when he collided with him. His eyes had been caught by a flutter of purple, and were inexorably drawn to the purple velvet coat that hung from the rung of a ladder nearby. Hatter's heart stopped at the sight of it there, fluttering innocently in the morning breeze. He felt nauseous as the implications of it being left there so carefully, where he would be sure to see it, sank in through the panic.

She had left. Alice had left him and gone off all alone to make a doomed attempt to make a deal with the devil for the life of another man.

"No...NO!" he cried as anguish, fear, and anger welled up within him as images of Alice being tortured by the Queen's mad henchmen flashed behind his eyes. Why? Why hadn't she trusted him? Was going alone to certain death really so much more bearable than his company?

Hatter's heart pounded in his chest, causing his blood to thunder in his ears so loudly that he barely heard the words that escaped him next .

"I need a horse."

Charlie's wild cries suddenly stopped and he wheeled around to face Hatter, who snapped around to glare at him, dark eyes daring the old knight to refuse his demand.

"I-..."

The hesitation was all the answer Hatter needed, and he was in too much of a hurry to wait for permission. Instead, he ran headlong back up the path to where they had left the horses the previous night. Maybe, just maybe, she hadn't gotten far. Maybe he could catch up to her and bring her back to safety before Mad March caught her. Hatter had no doubt in his mind that allowing herself to be captured was Alice's plan. After all, she had no way of knowing how to get to the Queen. However, if she was captured...well, that would be the first place they brought her.

Hatter cursed the girl even as he skidded to a stop in the clearing, startling the horses. Luckily, Guinevere was a docile as ever, for she soon settled and allowed the over excited man to throw her blanket across her back and saddle her without complaint.

As he worked, Charlie hurried up behind him, still barefoot and in his pajamas, but obviously worried "Which way should we go?" the old man asked.

"You don't have to come, Charlie. This isn't your fight." Hatter said firmly, hoping the old man would simply let things be. He'd travel faster on his own.

Charlie scoffed and said "You couldn't be more wrong!" hobbling off past the horses before rounding on heel to chastise Hatter, something the young man was in no mood for "You led the Alice of legend to me for a reason!" he insisted "Call it what you will; divinity, fate, an alignment of forces beyond mortal understanding...It's time you understood that _I _am the true paladin here, and _you _are mere a harbinger!"

Hatter ignored the tirade. The faster he could get on Alice's trail, the better. With every moment that passed, he could fee hope slipping away, and in the darkest parts of his heart, he had a feeling that it was already too late.

"Besides," Charlie began again, his tone less condemning and more petulant now, as he was forced to hunch over from the pain in his back "you'll never find her without my help. Remember, I'm also well versed in the..._black arts._"

There was that faux-mystic tone again. Hatter wondered just what had given the man the idea that he had such powers in the first place. No one had actually practiced the black arts in generations.

"We shall be guided by my psychic connection to the mysterious sinews that bind man kind to the outer realm..."

Finally finished, Hatter mounted the stalwart Guinevere just in time to see Charlie in one of his 'trances', letting out a sigh of annoyance as the old man proclaimed "You're going the wrong way, habringer! We should go West."

Hatter tugged on the reigns, holding the horse up a moment as he turned back over his shoulder and said "You go West, I'm going east."

"Why?" Charlie asked as he turned, seeming baffled by this reply.

"She's gone to the Heart's Casino." Hatter replied grimly, then turned his back on Charlie and urged Guinevere down the path at as quick a pace as they could manage.

He didn't wait to listen for a reply, but he none-the-less heard Charlie's quiet, disbelieving "But that's certain death...Why would she go there?"

Hatter set a fast pace for Guinevere, his fear a constant torment as he chastised himself over and over again for not being able to stop Alice from throwing herself so carelessly into danger. If he'd been more circumspect in his request for the ring, if he had simply explained it's importance more clearly; hell, if he'd just promised to try and get that stupid Jack of hers out of the casino, then this wouldn't have happened.

As the woods thickened, and the way became narrower, Guin was forced to slow her pace to pick her way carefully along the uneven path. Hatter had to fight the urge to kick her forward into greater speed, knowing full well that something so foolhardy could be the death of both mount and rider. None-the-less, the man's patience was beginning to wear dangerously thin when his mount suddenly came to a complete stop.

Frowning fiercely, Hatter clucked encouragingly at his steed, tugging the reigns gently to get her attention. When she didn't budge, he nudged her sides, lightly at first, and then harder.

"C'mon, we don't have _time_ for this!" Hatter growled, leaning around to see if there was something in her way. Seeing nothing, he dismounted lightly and went around to Guinevere's head, tugging hard on the reigns to try and lead her through the small clearing they had entered. It was to no avail, though, and Hatter found himself on the verge of violence in his desperation to keep moving so he could catch up to Alice. He could leave the stupid horse here and continue on foot, but he knew his chances of catching her dwindled sharply if he did that.

Looking back at the obstinate horse, Hatter grit his teeth and tugged the reigns again. For the first time, Hatter noticed that the creature didn't even budge an inch under his increasingly rough hand. With the treatment he was giving her, she should have pulled back, or swung her head, made a noise..._something_. But no, she stood there like a particularly convincing taxidermy specimen, unnaturally still, and frozen mid-stride.

The hairs on the back of Hatter's neck stood up and he looked at the forest around him, feeling as though something was watching him. Turning in place, Hatter slowly backed away from Guinevere, and put his back to the very large stump in the middle of the clearing. It was taller than he was, and it would take at least three men to get their arms around it's girth. It wasn't a wall, but at least something wouldn't be able to come at his back while he was unawares.

"Who's there?!" He demanded, guard up and ready to fight as he watched the treeline. Hatter's fists trembled, ever so slightly, as a presence seemed to fill the clearing. It was powerful, and oppressive, making his arms and body heavy with it's very existence. It was as though the world itself had woken up and turned it's entire attention onto this one tiny, insignificant man.

Hatter gasped for breath, starting to panic as he fought desperately against the crushing sensation that he was inexplicably experiencing. Just as he felt on the verge of blacking out, he felt the rough surface of the stump that he had put his back against fall away, sending him tumbling over backwards into darkness.

When Hatter finally regained consciousness sometime later, he found himself somewhere so dark that he experienced a brief moment of panic, thinking he had somehow gone blind.

_'Do not be afraid_._' _a voice said from the void.

Light appeared, making the man blink furiously and shield his eyes with one hand. After a moment, Hatter climbed slowly to his feet, surprised to realize that the pain he'd been experiencing since his beating from Dodo was gone. Peeking surreptitiously under his shirt, he noted that the terrible bruises he'd received had vanished, making his eyebrows shoot up in surprise.

Bringing his attention back to the situation at hand, Hatter's brow furrowed and he clenched his fists tightly at his sides, scanning his surroundings "Who's there? What is this place?" he demanded. Except for the red and white tiled flooring that he stood on, Hatter was surrounded by vast emptiness. The floor seemed to go on forever before eventually disappearing into the murk of infinity, something that the man had to quickly avert his eyes from before he became nauseous. The light seemed to come from nowhere in particular, for he cast no shadow, but could see perfectly well.

Hatter was startled out of his examination of the area by the return of the voice _'This is everywhere, and __nowhere. It is a place of possibilities.'_

"Uh-huh...Okay then." Hatter said, eyebrow arching skeptically as he looked around for the voice. It was a very strange one; almost like it didn't come from a single person, but thousands of them, all speaking at once in perfect harmony "So how do I get out?" he asked warily.

_'Through the door.'_

"Where?" Hatter demanded, spinning around to look, and seeing nothing.

_'You need only open your eyes to see it._' The voice said enigmatically.

Hatter took a deep breath to calm himself. Clearly, this called for a different line of attack "Where are you? Why can't I see you? Pretty rude, you know, hiding from a guest." he commented, crossing his arms over his chest and trying his best to look nonchalant.

_'We are here, but mortals cannot see us, for we have no corporeal form.'_

"We? Who's 'we'?" Hatter asked charily, turning once again, and still seeing nothing but red and white marble floor. Still no sign of that door, either. How long had he been in here, anyways? His heart fell sharply as it occurred to him that this little detour had probably cost Alice her freedom.

The voice cut through the nausea that threatened to swamp him, and caught his attention again when it answered his question _'We are the spirit of Wonderland. All living things that have been, are, and will be in Wonderland, are a part of us. We _**are** _Wonderland.'_

Hatter was too baffled by this answer to reply immediately. He fumbled inwardly, looking for some reasonable response to that statement. What did you even say to something like that? Finally, Hatter fell back on the old stand-by..."What?"

If it had lungs, the spirit would have sighed. As it was, there was a pause that implied one before it spoke _'All living things_ _have a soul, a spark of the divine_ _that gives them sentience. How much sentience depends on the species. Humans harbor the largest sparks. All souls are connected on a higher plain, their strength giving the land life, time it's steady flow, and the natural world it's laws.'_

Hatter very nearly said 'What' again, but managed to restrain himself. He didn't know what this thing really was, but that didn't mean he wanted to look like an idiot in front of it. Instead, he fell back on old habits, and decided to be suspicious "That's nice and all, but what has all that got to do with me? And how do I even know you're telling the truth, anyways? You could be anything! I've never heard of any 'Spirit of Wonderland'." Hatter challenged, making sarcastic finger-quotes at the voice's self-given title.

The spirit's voice sounded pained when it replied _'Once, everyone knew of us. Once, they held us as sacred.'_ It fell quiet for a moment, and Hatter shifted from foot to foot, wondering if it had left, abandoning him here in this lonely place. He was quickly disabused that notion, though, when it spoke again, this time in a grimmer tone _'Regardless, Wonderland needs you. If proof is what you need to fulfill your destiny, proof you shall have.'_

Hatter was just about to open his mouth to demand an explanation, when he was suddenly slammed with images, feelings, scents, experiences; none of them his own; all coalescing into a kaleidoscope of memories that battered at his mortal mind. The collective recollections of every thing that ever lived in Wonderland pouring into him caused Hatter to double over in agony, then fall to the ground writhing. He clutched his head as the barrage of memories of times long passed streamed past his mind's eye in a blur. It came so fast and so powerfully that he could only catch brief glimpses of the whole, a single atom in the universe of memories.

He saw a beautiful woman all in white on a throne, a man dressed all in blood red armor, he saw war, famine, rebellion, retaliation; he saw the Queen of Hearts at her wedding. He saw Alice, not _his _Alice, but the original Alice, who had come to Wonderland for the first time 150 years before.

Funny, no one ever mentioned that she had only been a child.

More memories bombarded him, and though he closed his eyes tight, he could still see them "I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" he cried, curling up in the fetal position against the onslaught of visions and sensations experienced by so many different people, all of them trying to cram their way into his skull. The flow of memories across time had come closer to the present, and now he saw himself, first as a boy, from his mothers point of view, then from so many others. He saw other people he didn't recognize, some he did. He saw himself as a man, so very lost on the road of life, but driven to do what he could all the same.

Then he saw Alice, just as lost as he was as she tumbled head first out of the mirror, glimpsed just briefly before the tides turned and he saw her from his own point of view, then others. Then he saw Mad March from _her_ perspective. Felt her terror, so delicately balanced by her indomitable spirit as he grabbed her, pushed her to the waiting suits who closed ranks around her and dragged her away...

"Stop! Oh gods stop, I believe you! I yield!" Hatter screamed, his heart feeling as though it were breaking.

The deluge stopped as suddenly as it began, and Hatter was left gasping in agony on the cool marble floor. It was a few long minutes before he could breath regularly again, and force himself into a sitting position.

_'We are sorry.' _the voice said quietly, sounding penitent _'It was necessary. You __**need**_ _to believe us. So very much weighs on you and Alice.'_

"What-" Hatter's voice croaked and he had to clear it before he could speak again "What do you know about Alice?"

_'We are the ones who called her here, like her predecessor before her.'_

_"_That's not possible._" _Hatter said, frowning "She came here by accident looking for her boyfriend." the man spoke the last word like it was a curse, then blinked in surprise at his own vehemence.

_'She was needed here, and so we bent the lines of fate so that she would come here, to this place, at this time, just like her predecessor over one hundred and fifty years ago, and the Alice before that, and the one before that.'_

Charlie's words when they had first met him came to mind when the spirit spoke. What had the old geezer said? _'It is meant to be...this time, this place, this meeting in the woods...' _Hatter shook himself "Wait just a second. You're telling me that there have been more than two Alice's? My- _This_ Alice is like the last one? That little girl I saw?" Hatter asked, mind whirling.

_'Before 'The Alice of Legend', as she is currently known, it had been over three hundred years since we were forced to summon an Alice.'_

Hatter's hands went to his temples and he rubbed them in an attempt to dispel his growing headache as he tried to process all the new information "So, what you're saying is, that you call girl's, named Alice, from the other side of the mirror when...what? When the world is in danger?"

_'In times of great turmoil, it is tradition that we call an Alice to aide us. They bring with them the potential for great change from the other side of the mirror. We do not like to call them. The change is not always predictable. Calling these women is always our last option in the defense of Wonderland.'_

"Well, why did you take so long to call the last Alice?" Hatter asked curiously. That had been before his time, and he had only stories to go off of "It was hundreds of years that the Queen of Hearts had been ruling by then. Without anyone else, why didn't you call her sooner?"

There was a brief hesitation from the spirit, before it answered _'We did not call her because we __**could not**_. _When the Queen of Hearts conquered the Red King, she took from him the Stone of Wonderland. This stone is not a stone, but rather, a key to the higher plain in which we exist. It opens a door and collects our power, and pulls it into the corporeal world. It is with this key that she was able to lock us away here, in this purgatory.'_ The voice sounded bitter.

"But why? I understand her wanting the power...but why do this to you?" Hatter asked, brow furrowed in thought.

_'Because she desired a life far longer than most mortals are given.'_ The spirit explained, it's many voices sounding tired _'She envied the White Queen and her people their longevity, and the beauty that came with it. Long life is the gift that the Stone of Wonderland gave it's protectors in the Kingdom of the Knights. The Queen desired this power for herself, and so she defeated the Knights and stole the stone for her own. Unfortunately...' _the voice hesitated.

"It didn't work for her? Did it?" Hatter asked, eyes narrowed "It wasn't hers, and so of course the Stone wouldn't give her what she wanted."

_'Yes.' _the Spirit said quietly _'So, to get what she desired, she and her suits used the stone to control us, the Spirt of Wonderland itself. By locking us away, the natural laws have become unbalanced, leaving time to move slower, if at all. It has caused the people to weaken as well.' _again, there was a silence that indicated a sigh _'Locked away so, we were forced to save our strength and send out a desperate call for help, for an Alice. It took us nearly three hundred years, but we finally managed to do our duty to Wonderland. The Alice had the desired effect, initially. The Queen's power weakened, and we were able to gather power more readily, but before we could escape and return balance to Wonderland, she and her suits discovered a new way of keeping the people under her thumb...'_

"Tea." Hatter said, the word falling from his lips as an expression of horror crossed the man's face.

_'Yes. Just as keeping us imprisoned weakens the people, keeping the people docile with her chemicals has weakened us.'_

Hatter buried his face in his hands, feeling a fool. All these years, he'd thought he was helping the people. Selling Tea had been bad, he knew, but he had always thought the ends had justified the means. After all, he had used most of his profits to buy food and other supplies for the refugees in the Great Library. And yet, as it turned out, he had been hindering more than helping.

Guilt still gnawing at him, Hatter finally spoke again "So, I'm guessing you got enough strength to call for another Alice. An older one this time."

_'We do not choose the age, we send only the call, bending the events of the world just slightly, to make it possible for her to come at the right time, to the right place. But, yes, we did call again, and now there is a new Alice. Already she has affected change in the world.'_

"How so?" Hatter asked. Sure, she had the Stone, but that had technically been given to her by her boyfriend, Jack.

_'By returning the stone to Wonderland...and awakening you, Hatter.'_

"What?" the man asked, startled.

_'Your efforts in this are just as important as the Alice's. Without you, she __**will**_ _fail.'_

All of a sudden, the red and white checkered marbled flooring wasn't just flooring, but a tremendous chessboard, where the squares were full of man sized chess pieces. Looking at the pieces on the white side, which were closest to him, hatter was startled to see Alice standing on the King's square. She wore a serene expression that he had seen on her only when she slept, and was dressed all in white. The space for the Queen piece was vacant, though all the other pieces were represented. They were, he realized, also represented by people. Charlie stood as one of the Knight pieces, unsurprisingly, and an unfamiliar old man and a handsome young blond one stood in place of a Rook and a Bishop respectively. Dodo stood as a Knight as well, and Hatter spotted Doormie and a striking blond woman amongst the pawns. The others he was unfamiliar with.

"You're missing a piece." He said, nodding to the empty Queen position even as he glanced over at the red side. The Queen of Hearts stood for the King, with Mad March as her Queen piece. The king, Hatter was surprised to note, was only a Knight, and the rest of the pieces were represented primarily by suits.

_'Are we?' _the voice asked.

"Yeah, the Queen. It's a little hard to play without her." he said with a snort.

_'Indeed. Well, if you would hurry and take your place, then we could start the game, Hatter.'_ the spirit said calmly.

Hatter gave a start "What, _me_?" he asked, completely aghast at the idea.

_'You are more important than you realize.'_

"But she doesn't even _want_ my help." Hatter said, heart beating fast now.

_'You must do what is necessary. Wonderland needs you.'_ the Spirit replied firmly, and Hatter realized that, in the end, he didn't really have much of a choice.

Not that it mattered, he would have done it regardless of his own objections. Still, the Spirit had given him new information, and new things to consider. Finally, he nodded and climbed to his feet "Right, so we bring down the Queen, then, get rid of the Casino and the Tea, and then you'll be free, yeah?" he asked, dusting himself off, giving small start as he noticed that the Queen's spot had been filled since he last looked. A mirror image of himself, dressed all in white, now stood at Alice's side.

_'Correct. Do this, and balance can be restored to Wonderland for the first time in four hundred and fifty years. When the crucial time comes, you will have our help.'_

"What about the Stone of Wonderland?" Hatter asked "We can't just leave that laying around."

_'No. It shall be returned to where it belongs.'_

A regular sized white knight chess piece suddenly appeared in front of Hatter, floating gently, waiting for him to take it "What's this?" he asked, distracted from the questions he had been about to ask. He took the piece from the air and examined it. To all intents and purposes, it looked like a mundane chess piece.

_'When the time comes to use it, you will know. You will have a time of great need, and we shall answer.'_

"Well, alright then." Hatter said, stumped. Shrugging, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a piece of string. Tying it around the base of the chess piece, Hatter made a crude necklace and then hung it around his neck so he wouldn't have to worry about losing it. Tucking it into his shirt, he looked up, and spotted the door that he had presumably come in through. It stood just off to his left, as though it had been there the whole time. He looked around suspiciously, and the voice of Wonderland herself chuckled at him.

_'Your eyes are open now, brave warrior; go forth and fulfill thy given destiny.'_

"Yeah, well, we'll see about destiny." Hatter remarked a little skeptically as he walked out the door. Outside again, he glanced back just in time to see a door swing shut and meld flawlessly with surface of the tremendous stump behind him.


End file.
